Mass Effect: Duty Calls
by Hillsy
Summary: Against all odds, Commander John Shepard has survived the crucible blast and is now embracing a peaceful galaxy while trying for early retirment. However, Shepard is called to the field once again pushing his retirement plans further and further away. With the support of his friends, former crew and fiancé, he might just make it through. M for Language, Blood/Gore and Mature Themes
1. Prologue

_Hello all! Thanks for choosing to read my Mass Effect FanFiction. First of all, I just need to clear something up. In no way do I own Mass Effect or the characters within,(Damn!) all rights are held within BioWare and EA._

_That's about it really, all I can say now is that I hope you enjoy and don't forget to leave a nice, juicy review if you liked it._

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**Mass Effect: Duty Calls**

**Prologue: Survival**

The first thing John remembered when he took his first breath was the unbearable pain that swiftly swept through his body. The fact that he was still able to draw breath was beyond the definition of a miracle, the resulting explosion from Shepard unloading his pistol upon the crucibles energy tube, had rendered him unconscious and seemingly somehow survived upon the heavily damaged Citadel. But now, here he lay, barely alive and critically wounded, each breath he took felt like a thousand knives stabbing all over his body. However, his first thought wasn't about the agonising pain that struck him, rather if the Crucible had done its job, had the Reapers been destroyed, like he had hoped?

He hoped with every fibre in his body that it had worked, but a small part thought to the Catalysts words before he made his decision, not only would the Reapers he destroyed but every synthetic in the galaxy. If it had indeed worked as the catalyst said, then not only had the galaxy been freed of the reapers hold, but Shepard was also single handedly responsible for the death of all living Geth, as well as the Normandy's loyal AI, EDI. Yes, John considered them deaths, not in the eyes of the narrow minded which would just say 'they went offline', the Geth had evolved in such a way that they were alive as much as any organic ever was, and EDI, she had come a long way from being a rogue VI on Luna base. Not only was she one of the greatest assets Cerberus added to the Normandy SR2, but she had also saved not only Shepards life, but his crews on many occasions, he even liked the idea that both her and Joker were beginning to enter into a relationship, even if it was through the Synthetic platform she inhabited.

Taking a chance, Shepard slowly opened his eyes to see exactly where he had fallen, it was very difficult to tell for a start, but if he had to guess by using his surroundings, he was in the Presidum tower, more specifically, the council chambers. He couldn't help as his thoughts slipped back to his first time here, this was the scene of many of Shepards personal and careers victories. Here, where he was made the first official human spectre, here, where he convinced the rogue spectre Saren, with whom he had been hunting across the galaxy, that his quest had been a mistake and he watched as the rebuilt turian attempted to redeem himself by putting a bullet in his head with his pistol. But to add an insult to Saren's attempt and redemption, Sovereign took control of the dead spectre's body thanks to the reaper tech infused within and came at Shepard and his crew with all it had. Once again, Sovereign underestimated the Soldier and was bested by him for the final time, the Alliance fleet that had arrived during the fight now moved in after successfully saving the Council, moved on the disabled Reaper and destroyed the sentient machine.

Even though it caused a lot of pain, Shepard couldn't help but chuckle slightly, to think all this had happened almost three years ago, it almost felt like yesterday that he stood with the rescued council and named Anderson as the Human Councillor. It was one of the proudest days in the Alliance, to see one of their own given a most honourable role in shaping the galaxy. But the next months that followed would once again shape Shepard into the man he is, and there was one enemy that would do just that, the collectors. While upon a routine patrol, the Normandy SR1 came under attack from the collectors, many had perished in the ships destruction, including the Commander himself. He was as dead as dead could be, but that was still good enough for Cerberus to rebuild him and bring him back from the dead. While grateful to the Illusive Man for bringing him back, he still refused to acknowledge the pro-human group, but still worked with them towards the same goal, stopping the reapers. Along the way, he meet new friends and some of his old crew even rejoined the new Normandy, but there was one he was sad to see turn their back on him, Ashley Williams.

Shepard felt a massive weight in his chest, after the run to the citadel beam and firing of the crucible, was she safe? Was she still alive? It pained the love stricken commander to see the woman he loved with a fierce passion and respected greatly as a soldier, heavily wounded. He was greatly relieved when she safely got away on the Normandy, but where was the ship now? Was it still safe? He had to know, using every fibre of his being, he ignored the stinging pain and tried reaching across to his left arm to activate his omni-tool, upon making contact it sparked wildly as it tried to activate, it flickered into life, but it was heavily damaged, he had to make this communication count.

"C... Calling on..." Shepard said weakly " Calling on all Alliance Channels, can anyone... Hear me?"

From the static that followed, it seemed his communication had fallen on deaf ears. Was it possible, had the crucible misfired and killed everyone as well as the reapers? He couldn't bare the thought that he was the only one left alive , however that thought quickly diminished as a new transmission opened up on his damaged omni-tool.

"This is Captain Charles of the Alliance Fifth Fleet, identify yourself."

Shepard couldn't help but grin. "Commander John Shepard." He announced proudly, even through each word cut through him with agonising pain.

"I read you, Commander." The transmission came in with some static but Shepard could still make it out "Admiral Hackett would like to speak..."

"I need a medical extraction." Shepard said, shifting uncomfortably as the rubble that hurried his legs were cutting into him. "I'm badly wounded and am trapped in the Presidum Tower."

"Copy that Commander. I'll have a team sent right away, in the meantime Admiral Hacket would like to..." But Captain Charles never got to finish his transmission as the static took over once more, soon after Shepards omni-tool lost power and shut off.

Hearing the voice of the Alliance Captian was a monumental relief, he wasn't the only left like he was afraid of. But he still worried about the Normandy and her crew, were they safe as well? Why hadn't they answered when Shepard opened up communications, surely Specialist Traynor would have picked up on his voice. If only his omni-tool had lasted another minute, he could have found out of the Normandy's fate.

He sighed and laid his head back, feeling his eyes beginning to droop, he shut them and felt a wave of fatigue begin to settle in. He wasn't sure how long it would be for the medical evac to arrive, but it couldn't hurt to catch forty winks until they got here, besides, Anderson had been right, it really had felt like a long time since he sat down.


	2. Chapter 1

_Hello all, well here is the first chapter of Duty Calls, know I know the title sucks (I've never been good at them myself.) and I may rename it in the future, just as a short heads up._

_Now there is one quick thing I wanted to say, I should have mentioned it in the prologue, but hey better late than never, right? Anyway, I just wanted to clear up that I am writing all this on my iPhone (Laptop currently non functional.) so I may miss some spelling mistakes, or words aren't what they should be (Auto correct likes to fuck with me, white people problems, right?) so please don't go all grammar Nazi on me, and just enjoy the ride._

_Anywho, enjoy the first chapter and don't forget to leave me a nice review._

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**Mass Effect: Duty Calls**

**Chapter 1 -Remembrance **

Commander Shepard. The name lay etched upon the plaque in her hands, the crew had granted her the honour of placing his name upon the memorial wall that showed current and former crew of the Normandy that had lost their lives in the field. Not long after they had crash landed on an unknown planet, the crew of the Normandy soon found out that the crucible had successfully destroyed all reaper forces. The returning fleets confirmed this, as well as news that shook the entire crew of the Normandy, the Citadel had been badly damaged in the crucible blast and there were reports of no survivors, it came as such a shock, but none more so than Ashley Williams. Not only did she lose her commanding officer, but so much more, the love of her life, John Shepard.

She continued to stare down at his name, she didn't know what to feel, her mind and body were numb, like her very heart and soul had been ripped clean from her, she was empty inside. The rest of the crew that surrounded her all remained silent and kept their heads bowed in respect at their fallen friend, though they all wished to offer Ashley the support she needed. Slowly she stepped forward, approaching the memorial wall, stopping just in front of it, the crew still remained silent while Ashley made to make her worst nightmare become a reality. She gently rubbed her hand across Shepard's name and thought back to all the time they had spent together, how they met on Eden Prime, their mission to bring down Saren, the first time they had both found comfort with each other. It all felt so long ago, but it was still a very fond memory that had not deteriorated over time. She couldn't help as her lips twitched when she thought back to a moment between the two, shortly after Shepard had been made a human spectre. She had told the commander that she would kiss a turian on the cheek if he so ordered, he responded with a joke of his own which she then took as serious and bought up the fraternisation rules the Alliance had set in place. She couldn't quite believe she had said that, at that point she wasn't all interested in him, but she couldn't deny, she did think he was quite handsome. But they slowly became attracted to one another over time, one of the things that made her swoon was the fact that he knew poetry, the very same her own father had taught her.

She made to reach up and place Shepard's plaque above Admiral Anderson's, he too had been a valuable member of the Normandy, it's first commanding officer in fact. However, something was holding her back, she felt a familiar warmth within her heart, one that always surfaced whenever she was with Shepard. She recalled this feeling when she first saw him again after two years, years which she thought he was dead. Seeing him again made her heart rise in her chest, the man she had fallen for had come back, but it wasn't all happiness, she was bought back down when she heard he was working with the enemy, Cerberus. They parted ways on bad terms, but Shepard reassured her, his loyalties remained to her, he was doing all this for humanity, not for Cerberus. The fact that his own selfless recklessness remained told her that he was indeed the Shepard she knew, but a little distrust remained, just what had Cerberus done to him?

The distrust remained shortly after the two meet again on Earth, after reaching the Alliance Outpost on Mars, they found out that Cerberus had infiltrated and killed the personnel inside. She constantly questioned him about his ties with the pro-human group, and at every turn Shepard reassured her that he had cut said ties with them. It wasn't until his visit to her while recovering in Huerta Memorial that she truly believed him, he was still the same man she had fallen for those many years ago, and what made her heart leap was the fact that after all this time, he still loved and cared so much about her. Though it didn't take long for that love and care to be tested in a most cruel way, Cerberus had taken control of the citadel and were coming after the council, as their new Spectre, she had to protect them. After many run ins, they arrived at the evac platform, however their transport had been destroyed, leaving them cornered, but someone was forcing their way through the door, she got the biggest surprise when she saw Shepard, Garus and James emerge, all their weapons trained on Udina. Unsure what was going on, she moved in their path, she needed answers, she was feeling the distrust slowly beginning to surface, but the moment Shepard lowered his weapon, all trace of her former distrust vanished, now she had no doubt in her mind that Shepard spoke the truth. As it turns out, Udina was indeed the traitor and proved this when he drew a weapon against the asari councillor, before Ashley could pull the trigger, Shepard already had, placing a bullet in Udina's heart and ending the Cerberus threat inboard the Citadel.

Reading Shepard's name again on the plaque bought a tear to her eye, she shut them, remembering his face, the face of her one true lover. She couldn't help as her smile spread across her lips, the warm feeling in her heart was now beginning to spread throughout her entire body, she refused to believe that Shepard was dead, no, if anyone could survive the Citadel, she knew it would be her Skipper. She stepped back from the wall and held the plaque loosely beside her, right now all she wished to do is toss it out the airlock, she wouldn't need it, not at all, so in the end she settled for handing it over to Traynor. She looked carefully at one of the newest names to go on the memorial wall, EDI. Admittedly, she did not know much of EDI, only that she was the Normandy's artificial intelligence and that she was using the same synthetic body that had tried to kill her on Mars. But she knew of the crews immeasurable respect for her, more so than Joker, even if EDI was never truly alive, the two were the perfect match, and without her, no one would be standing here right now.

Ashley pulled her eyes away from the wall and looked over to Joker, he too had been staring at EDI's name on the wall. Out of many of the crew members, Joker was one that she had known the longest, they were more than friends, they were family. She stepped over to him and without warning, wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in close, the gesture, if unexpected, was returned, it was a comfort to one another that there would be someone there for them should they need it.

After the two had separated, there was one question Joker had "Why didn't you put his name up?"

Ashley couldn't help but smile and looked back at the vacant spot, where Shepard's name should have gone. "Something tells me, he is still alive. I can... I can just feel it, you know?"

"Yeah, if any hard ass can survive multiple suicide missions, it's our Commander." Joker said, though the usual enthusiasm in his jokes were no longer there.

Ashley just continued to smile at Joker's comment, even some of the other crew murmured their agreement. Deciding now might be a good time to get people's minds off of things, she spoke to Tali. "How are the repairs to the drive core going?"

"Good." Tali said, the small light on her helmet, flashing as she spoke "Once the radiation leak is patched up, it will be as good as new."

Ashley nodded. "How long will that take?"

"Once the leak is found, and depending how big it is." Tali began to speak "Worst case it will take a week, very worst case we cannot get airborne again."

Again, Ashley nodded, with Shepard no longer aboard the Normandy, she was the current commanding officer. She wouldn't deny, she was a little lost at times, fortunately everyone knew what they were doing so it made her job that much easier. "Alright everyone. Once that radiation leak is patched up, we get airborne and leave this planet behind, and return to Earth." She said in a shaky, yet commanding voice. "Return to your stations and make sure all is functional, I don't want to end up going home in pieces."

All the Alliance personal stood to attention and saluted the lieutenant commander and dispersed, while the rest slowly wandered back to their posts. She wished she could have let them have more time to mourn, but the sooner they could leave this planet, the sooner they could return home and mourn their loved ones then. As she made to head to the engine room, she was ambushed by Private Campbell who sprang to salute "Ma'am. We just received a message from Admiral Hackett over the QEC, he is waiting to speak with you."

"Thanks Sarah. I'll head up and take it right now." Ashley said, getting into the elevator with her. Together the two went up to the second deck and into the war room in compete silence, only after entering the QEC did Private Campbell leave and resume her post. Ashley stepped forward and opened up the communication link to Admiral Hackett and waited.

Not long after, the holographic projection of Hackett appeared in front of her "Lieutenant Commander, good to see you're all still in one piece."

Ashley sprang to salute her superior officer "Sir!"

"At ease." Hackett said, and Ashley relaxed and held both her hands behind her back.

"Sir." Ashley began "I just wanted to know, how bad were the casualties?"

Hackett's constant grim look didn't falter in the slightest, it remained as stoic as ever. "All sides suffered some heavy casualties, the Geth mostly. Since the crucible fired, they have all just shut down and cannot seem to reactivate."

"Same on our end, sir." Ashley said "EDI has completely shut off, and we are getting no response from her."

Hackett began to rub his bristly chin, as he always did when he had something on his mind. "It is possible, than when the crucible fired it targeted all Synthetics. The reapers have stopped functioning completely, the Geth, even our VI's have ceased all functionality." Ashley remained silent, she wanted to ask a million questions, but it wasn't her place to ask them, however it didn't go unnoticed by Hackett. "Something on your mind, lieutenant commander?"

Ashley sighed "It just doesn't really feel like we won the war. Only survived it with a casualty list numbering near the billions."

"I understand." Hackett said "I won't deny, there was still so much we could have done to prepare for the reapers, but even then, the casualties were always going to be high. We should have heeded Shepard's warnings and hit the nail on the head sooner."

"Why weren't they taken seriously, sir? The warnings, I mean." Ashley found herself asking before she even knew it.

"Too many unknowns." Hackett said "Hell if I'd known the plans for the crucible had been sitting in the mars archives for almost 50 years, I would have done something sooner."

"It's not your fault sir, you didn't know." Ashley said in reassurance "If Liara hadn't found them, the reapers would have killed us all."

"Still, now that it is all over, I can't help but think just maybe there was something more I could do." Hackett said. "Anyway, that isn't why I needed to speak to you, I want to know how the repairs are coming among?"

"They are almost completed sir, we just need to find and fix the radiation leak in engineering and we should be under way." Ashley said.

"That's good news, I didn't want to lose the Alliance's best warship." Hackett said "That being said, you're in charge of returning it to Earth."

Again, Ashley sprang to salute the Admiral "Of course sir, you can count on me."

"That's good to hear." Hackett said "If that is everything, I have some good news to pass on to you, three hours ago we received communication from the Citadel."

Ashley felt her heart rise in her chest, could it have been...

"Shepard survived and managed to get through a message." Hackett said simply.

In that one instant, Ashley's whole world lit up, she could hardly believe it was true, she listened to her heart and it lead her true, Shepard was alive.

"A medical evac was sent to extract him from the Citadel." Hackett said "But that is where the good news stops I'm afraid."

"What do you mean, sir?" Ashley asked, feeling herself holding her breath while waiting for his answer.

"The Commander had slipped into a coma when the medical team had arrived." Hackett said "Right now he is currently aboard my ship and is currently stable, however his life signs are not, he has already flatlined once but he was quickly revived."

Ashley couldn't help but look down, her world was slowly beginning to dim again.

"I'm sorry I had to deliver this news. But I thought you and your crew should know." Hackett said, a tone of sincere sorrow in his voice "We have medics working on him around the clock and keeping a constant eye on his vitals, but he simply won't react to outside stimuli."

"I... I see." Was all that could leave Ashley's mouth, all she wanted to do now was curl up somewhere and cry, she had gotten her skipper back, but he may never awaken again. But she had to remain strong, she knew he wouldn't want her to mope around while the crew needed her. "Do you... Do you know how he survived?"

"How he survived is beyond me, when I went to see him down in the medical bay, he was badly damaged." Hackett said "Over half of his bones are broken and the rest, just like him are badly battered and bruised. I would have hardly believed he were alive if the doctors hadn't told me."

Ashley couldn't take it anymore, her knees gave way and she fell onto them, she barely managed to hold on to the QEC's podium to keep herself upright, and she cried. She couldn't help herself, she loved Shepard so much, to think she might lose him a second time was just too much.

Hackett sighed, he dropped his formal facade and spoke freely "I am sorry Ashley. Shepard is a good man, hell he is one of the best that I have had the honour of having under my command. Like you, I wish there was more I could do right now, but it is now up to him to pull through, and we both know how stubborn he is. If the reapers couldn't kill him, this won't."

Hearing his words slowly sobered Ashley up, however she didn't rise to formally farewell her superior officer, instead she sat and leaned against the QEC and spoke "Thanks, sir." She sobbed slightly.

"Of course. Inform me when you have the Normandy under way." Hackett said "Hackett out." The communication was cut then, leaving Ashley all alone in the QEC, but that was all she wanted right now.

To hear that Shepard, her greatest love, was still alive was the biggest relief in her world, but to also hear that he was in a coma, it almost felt like the flame of their relationship was almost extinguished. Why was fate playing such a cruel joke like this, the two had only recently resumed their relationship. She felt as a new waves of tears began to pour, she had never been this emotional before, but everything about her ached for Shepard, and to know that she could lose her entire world in the blink of an eye, she could only be strong to a point, she was only human after all.

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**-S-**

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Some hours had passed, outside on the unknown planet, night was beginning to take over and the Normandy crew that had been out exploring had all returned safely. All it appeared to he was a large jungle planet, they hasn't found any signs of life, and none had found them. The air was clean and easy breathing, even Tali could remove her mask for a few minutes without any chances of infection. If this world could be colonised, not just by humans, it could become a very popular colony, however they weren't sure of its exact coordinates.

Fortunately, mush to everyone's delight, the radiation leak had been found and had been patched up, all that was left to do now was make sure everything was running smoothly then they could leave and return to Earth. While the rest of the crew had gone to enjoy their dinner in the mess, Ashley had gone to the port lounge and was now sitting at the bar, one bottle of serrice ice brandy drunk and another half empty. She held a half empty glass in her hand as she leant on the bar, she had spent all afternoon since her conversation with Admiral Hackett, trying to forget about all her problems. Many of the crew had tried to drag her away from the lounge, but she firmly remained, now it was James' turn to try and brave the storm. He entered the lounge and made his way over to the bar and sat beside Ashley, pulling himself an empty glass. "You don't mind, do you?" He asked as he reached for the bottle.

"If you're here to drag me away." Ashley said in a heavy slur "Get lost."

"Drag you away? Nah, thought you could use some company." Vega said, pouring himself a glass of the brandy. "Besides, it's a sad thing when you drink all by yourself, now it's socially acceptable that I'm here now."

Ashley looked sideways at him, trying to see if she could read him, but the room was spinning so much she couldn't see straight. In the end, she gave up and didn't force him away. "Why did you never give me a nickname?" She asked randomly, the heavy slur still present in her voice. "You gave Steve one, and Shepard, why not me?"

James couldn't help but laugh "Believe it or not, your name suits you, so I don't need to think one up."

"But if you had to give me one..." She asked.

James went quiet for a moment "Well, if I had to think of one, I would probably say Lola."

"Lola, huh?" Ashley said, now raising an eyebrow. In a very random change of personality she began to giggle like a little school girl.

"Man, you are wasted, aren't you." James said, finding it a little humorous, but at the same time a little sad.

"I have so much I don't want to worry about." Ashley said, draining the last of the brandy in her glass. She reached to fill some more up but accidentally knocked it over and spilling some on the bar, she managed to recollect what was left in the bottle and filled her glass up. "Here is to having no worries." She raised her glass in a toast.

James obliged "No worries." He said as he touched her glass with a loud clink. Deciding now might be a good time to find out what had been said in her conversation with Hackett, she hasn't told anyone, all they saw was her leaving the QEC in tears and coming down to the bar, asking not to be disturbed. "So humour me, what did the Admiral want?"

"Something about the Normandy not being back, or whatever." Ashley said "And Shepard still being alive."

"What?" James said loudly, turning his full attention to Ashley "Did you say the commander is alive?"

"Yep. But what good is it." Ashley said bitterly.

"What good is it?" James asked "It's the best news ever." He was now on his feet "We thought that when the transmission came through about the citadel, everyone had died."

"Nope, Shepard survived." Ashley said, still so bitterly.

"Then why the hell are you drinking yourself to death?" James asked loudly, he was clearly getting angry and frustrated.

"Because I'm not losing him a second time!" Ashley yelled. "He is in a god damned coma, and might never wake up!"

"That doesn't mean shit." James said, lowering his tone but he was still clearly frustrated "For all you know, he could wake up and whose face do you think he will want to see first? Yours. Not hear from some doctor that you drank yourself to death."

"I don't care, Vega." Ashley said, her voice beginning to whimper "Every man I have ever loved has died. My dad, Shepard."

"You know what..." James said, as quick as a flash, he had taken both the bottle and glass from Ashley. "You have had more than enough." He got up from his stool and went around behind the bar, pouring both glass and bottle down into the sink.

"Hey! I was still drinking that!" Ashley yelled in a heavy slur. She got up from her stool and could barely stand, she had to keep herself upright by using the bar for support.

"Well you're done." James said firmly "If only your dad and Shepard could see you know, they would be so ashamed."

"How dare you!" Ashley shrieked. She put all her weight into an opened face slap, missing by miles she lost her balance and fell to the floor, hard. James then leapt down to help her, but stopped when he heard that she had begun to cry, sobbing loudly onto the floor. Hearing the yelling and loud noises from the mess, some of the crew had come to see what was going on, but they were quickly sent away by Liara and Tali who had both pushed their way in front of them.

"I can't lose him, I don't want to lose him again." Ashley said in between sobs. "I love him so much."

James who had been kneeling down, placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and he wasn't alone, Tali and Liara had both come over to comfort their heavy hearted ally.

"I'm so pathetic. You are right, James. They would both be so ashamed." Ashley said, still sobbing loudly into the floor.

Liara looked up to James for an explanation, while even though he couldn't see behind Tali's mask, he knew she was cutting him a dark glare. "I didn't mean it like that, what I meant was that they would be ashamed of what you were doing right now."

"Yes, he's right." Liara said in a calming, motherly voice. "We all know Shepard loved you more than anything, and that will never stop."

Ashley went silent, she had heard Liara and appreciated her comfort, but one word then set her off again, loved.

James looked over to Liara and spoke quirky "She said that the Admiral said Shepard is still alive."

"Goddess!" Liara cursed loudly "I didn't know, but how?"

"Kee'lah!" Tali said "I didn't think it was possible."

"Yeah, even I'm having a little difficulty in believing it." James muttered to the two. "But lets not worry about it right now, I think it's time we got you into a bed. Sleep it off and you will be better tomorrow."

"Just leave me here to die." Ashley said "I don't deserve to live."

"Nonsense. Though you won't feel like living after you wake up." James said as he took ahold of one of her arms and threw it over his shoulders and lifted her up as he stood. Liara swooped in and took Ashley's other arm and helped her along.

"Lets take her up to Shepard's cabin, she can peacefully rest it off up there." Liara suggested. Taking things slowly, the two carried a barely conscious Ashley to the elevator and bought her up to Shepard's cabin. They carefully placed her in the bed where she lay there, still barely conscious. They all left the cabin and shut it behind them.

"I think I'll go and speak to the Admiral." Liara said, standing in the elevator with James and Tali. "Once I'm done I will go back up and make sure she is alright."

"I'll go see if the Doc has anything I can give her so she doesn't get too bad a hangover when she wakes up." James said, also trying to be helpful to the situation.

"Good idea. Kee'lah I don't envy her now, I still remember how bad a I felt after Shepard's party." Tali said.

"I think we all do." James said as the elevator stopped on deck 2 and they all stepped out, Liara headed for the QEC while the other two went to speak with Joker.

"So how is our little LC doing now?" Joker said as they entered the bridge. "Just thought I'd ask because she almost broke me in half when I was down there last."

"Sleeping it off." Tali said. "Anyway, we just came up here to see how the systems are functioning?"

"Well, all systems are fully functional, so we can leave whenever we want." Joker said "Though, I just have one minor concern."

"And that is..." James said, hoping Joker would continue.

"Go to the galaxy map and take a look, I'll explain from here." Joker said.

Tali and James both walked back out to the CIC and stood on the podium of the galaxy map. "What are we looking for, Joker?" James asked.

"The Galaxy map can't give us our coordinates." Joker said over the CIC intercom "We have a perfectly functional ship, we just don't know where to point her."

"Alright, any ideas on how we can find our way home?" James asked, though not just to Joker but to all in the CIC.

Everyone had fallen silent, but eventually one spoke, and of course it was the brilliant mind of Specialist Traynor. "We are still able to use our QEC to speak directly to Admiral Hackett, yes?"

"Yes, but how does that..." Joker began, but Traynor had already continued to speak.

"Now that the reaper threat is gone, we don't need to worry about a secure communication becoming compromised and the Normandy being tracked." Traynor said "If we spoke to Admiral Hackett with an open connection, then maybe they can track it and give us our location?"

"Think it will work?" James asked, impressed by her quick thinking.

"I don't know, it's just a theory, but..." Traynor began.

"Liara is speaking to the Admiral now." Tali said "If you go and speak to him now he might be able to help us."

Traynor nodded and left the CIC to join Liara in the QEC, she entered while the two were speaking.

"It's difficult to say whether he will wake up or not." Hackett said "The damage to himself and the implants Cerberus put into him are extensive, but the fact remains he is still alive, even if he is in a comatose state."

"That is better than him being dead Admiral." Liara said, still both shocked and surprised that Ashley had spoken the truth.

"Yes, but not by much." Hackett said "If not for the life support keeping him stable, he might never wake up, and I don't think the Commander would like to be kept like that for the rest of his life."

"Yes, I suppose you are right. But I'm still optimistic, he can pull through." Liara said.

"My thoughts exactly." Hackett agreed.

Before Liara could reply again, Traynor cleared her throat hoping Liara would let her join in. Liara turned to see Traynor standing at the entrance to the QEC. "Traynor? What can I do for you?"

"I... Was hoping to speak to the Admiral also, we have a little bit of a situation." Traynor said.

"Of course." Liara said, stepping to the side so she could speak directly to the Admiral.

Traynor timidly stepped forward, this was the second time she had spoken to Admiral Hackett, she sprang to salute when Hackett acknowledged her presence. "Sir." She said.

"Specialist Traynor." Hackett said back "What is it that I can do for you?"

Traynor relaxed a little and held her hand behind her back "Sir. The Normandy is ready for flight once more, however we seem to have an issue."

"What is it, Traynor?" Hackett asked in his usual gruff tone.

"Well, the galaxy map can't give us a location of where we are, and we don't know where exactly to fly the Normandy." Traynor said.

"I see." Hackett said, scratching his short beard as he normally did when he was thinking.

"However, we have an idea of how to get our location, we just need your help, sir." Traynor said.

"Of course, what do you need?" Hackett asked.

"We want to open up an unsecure communication to you, and hope you might be able to track it and give us our location." Traynor said, hoping what she said would make sense to the Admiral.

The Admiral went silent for a few moments while he thought it through, it was a long shot after all. "Alright, without the reaper threat present, I think we can do that for you. Just let us get ready on our end."

"I shall take my leave." Liara said, she was an information broker, not a technical specialist, and besides, she had heard all she needed from the Admiral. She left the QEC just as one of the Admiral's specialists entered.

She had learned a lot from the Admiral, even if it was just a short conversation, John Shepard had survived on the Citadel, but at a terrible cost. This was news she thought to share with the rest of the Normandy crew, but for now they could survive without, she wanted to head back up to the loft and check on the distraught and most likely sleeping Ashley. She barely managed to dodge questions from James and Tali as she entered the elevator, when the doors had shut, she let out a deep breath which she didn't even realise she had been holding, ever since that first intake when she asked the Admiral about Shepard. When the elevator arrived in the loft she entered the cabin expecting to see Ashley as they had left her, however she wasn't in the bed. Expecting she had gone back down to the starboard bar, she left to leave, but she heard a loud moaning coming from the bathroom. Carefully she proceeded back to the door and cautiously knocked on it "Hello? Ashley, are you in there?" She asked.

A loud and pained groan came from inside, taking her chance Liara opened the door and peered inside to see Ashley huddled up against the toilet, it was clear that she was now working the alcohol out of her system. She looked to be barely awake, and somehow managed to speak in barely understandable words. "How much did I drink?" She said slowly.

"I saw two empty bottles of serrice ice brandy down there." Liara said, now humoured that Ashley had regained her composure, even if it was slightly.

As expected, she held her head into the toilet bowl and couldn't help as another wave of bile and alcohol resurfaced and splashed into the water. Liara felt quite sick herself at hearing it, but managed to stomach it, she leaned down and pull some of Ashley's hair from her face and held it back. "Thanks." Ashley said in a pained voice. "I'm never drinking again, I swear to god."

"Alright, I think it's time we got you back into bed." Liara suggested.

Ashley tried to get up and go to bed herself, but the over drinking had caused her to become as weak as anything. Liara managed to pick her up off the floor and carried her back to the bed and softly placed her back into it, careful not to let her lie on her back. She then proceeded to sit on the couch and carefully watch her, it didn't take her long to fall to sleep. Liara couldn't help but feel nothing but sorrow for Ashley, to hear that the love of your life was alive but might never wake up again, especially considering just how much the two had been through, she wasn't at all surprised that she had tried to drink herself to death. But if being on the Normandy taught Liara something, no matter how slim the odds, Shepard would always pull through.


	3. Chapter 2

_Hey loyal readers! Well, here is chapter two, sorry it took so long to upload, been busy with work and a little research for this fic, and I'm pretty sure I've got a nice little plot nailed down, so let's see what the future brings. Anywho, I'll skip the boring monologue and let you get to reading, and don't forget to leave me a nice review!_

* * *

**Mass Effect: Duty Calls**

**Chapter 2 - The Return to Earth**

_Even with all the explosions going on around them, Shepard somehow managed to keep his feet and continue running as if death itself were chasing him. Many Alliance marines all around them were getting decimated by the constant flurry of beams that came from the Reaper beyond the beam, but they still persevered and pushed toward it, hoping that what lay beyond it would help to help put an end to the reaper threat once and for all. Ashley and Garrus were closely following Shepard, though the distance was constantly getting bigger as Shepard's speed surpassed their own. Another explosion cut across the ground near Shepard's feet, he almost lost his balance and fell, but managed to right himself and continue running. _

_A mako that had been driving near him, cut passed and speed towards the beam, but the next attack of the reapers cut in front of it and blew it backwards, Shepard barely managed to avoid it as he slid across the ground to bring himself to a quicker stop, it landed just in front of him, he then looked back to Ashley and Garrus. They were unharmed, however the downed mako blocked their view as another mako was blown over top of the already destroyed one and it was coming right down on top of them, they both saw it coming but a second too late. They avoided it for the most part, but the resulting blast from the impact consumed them._

_Shepard watched helplessly as he lost sight of the two, he wasn't sure what had happened to them and ended up doubling back to make sure they were safe. He ran and leapt over the destroyed mako and to his immense relief saw that both Ashely and Garrus were both still alive, albeit badly injured, there was no way they could continue this run. He ran to Garrus first but saw his injuries weren't as bad as he thought, he waved Shepard off and he than ran to Ashley, helping her up and getting her to cover behind the destroyed Mako. "Normandy do you copy?" He called over the comms. "I need an evac. Right now!"_

_Joker's voice came in over their earpieces as more Alliance marines pushed forward, many shooting at advancing husks and marauders. "We're taking heavy losses up here, Commander!" The beam was causing some interference with the comms, and Shepard barely heard what he said with the heavy static. He made to check on Ashley and Garrus and quickly glanced out at the marines passing by, the sound of heavy thrusters could be heard as a ship came on approach. "On our way, Commander!" Joker said as the Normandy came into view._

_"Come on." Shepard said, seeing that it was landing a short distance away, he gathered Ashley up and helped walk her to the Normandy. It's cargo bay door opened and several more Alliance marines appeared and gave cover to some injured marines that entered the ship. Garrus was the first to make it onto the Normandy, he quickly turned back to help Shepard with Ashley, instead "Here, take her."_

_"Shepard!" She said in disbelief as Garrus then took her and held her carefully. He had already taken a few steps back and onto the ground._

_"You gotta get out of here!" Shepard replied, the amount of worry in his voice was troubling._

_"With all due respect, Commander." She began, trying to control herself._

_"Don't argue with me Ash!" Shepard said sternly._

_"Dammit, I can do this!" Ashley said with a whimper in her voice, clearly she was in pain, and Shepard would have none of it._

_"I know you can." He replied, he then took steps closer to her, closing the distance between the two "But no matter what happens here today." He reached up and gently caressed her bleeding cheek as he slowly drew his head closer. "I'll always love you."_

_"Shepard, I..." She said softly, but she wasn't allowed to speak as his lips meet with hers and he kissed her tenderly. As quickly as it had began, it had ended, he backed off slightly but his hand still remained on her cheek. "I love you, too."_

_Shepard began to step back, and Ashley reached out to him but he had already stepped off the cargo bay doors, never taking his eyes off her. Not until he stepped back onto the ground once more, he turned and paid the reaper a look, seeing if it still hadn't spotted the Normandy, it had already lingered too long and was possibly being targeted right now. He turned to face Ashley and Garrus once more, Ashley was still reaching out to him, hoping he would return to her. "Go!" He yelled at them and pointing away from the battlefield, he then turned and ran back towards the beam. Ashley let her hand drop and was helped further into the Normandy as it began to ascend, the last she saw of Shepard before she last sight of him, he was looking over his shoulders as he ran, paying her one last, final look._

_Ashley didn't know how much time had passed, but as she was helped onto a bed in the medical bay, she heard the comm that utterly blew her world into a million pieces._

_"God... They're all gone."_

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

With a loud gasp, Ashley awoke. To say she felt like death was an understatement, her entire head was pounding as if a krogan was constantly stomping down on it, and her whole body felt as dry as the sands of Tuchanka, hangovers always did this to her, but this one was the worst she had ever had. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep for, or even how she got to be here, all she could remember was leaving the QEC and everything else after that was just a blur. She rolled on to her back and stared up at the ceiling, more specifically, out the hull window, realising that she had been sleeping in Shepard's bed. It was dark out and the stars had come out to play for the evening, so as far as she could tell, it was nighttime. But something felt different about the night sky, it appeared as if things were moving, or maybe she was still intoxicated. Either way, she threw the covers off of her and shakily made her way over to the bathroom, where she grabbed a nearby cup and filled it to the rim with precious water that helped ever so slightly as it went down her very dry throat.

She heard as the loft door opened and someone walked in, but she didn't care, she helped herself to another cup of water and drained it almost instantly. "It's good to see the sleeping beauty has finally awoken." Came the familiar voice of Garrus Vakarian.

Ashley couldn't help but groan "Don't let Tali hear you say that, she might get jealous." She cut back.

"Wait, how did you..." Garrus began, but soon figured it out "Shepard." He muttered.

"You had to know he wouldn't keep it a secret." Ashley said with a grin, she still felt like death, but egging Garrus on was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"I had a suspicion he would tell you." Garrus said as he leant against the frame of the bathroom door.

Ashley couldn't help but chuckle, then the inevitable question came out "How long was I out for?"

"About twelve hours." Garrus said "Liara stayed up here for nine of them, you really drank yourself under the table yesterday."

Ashley scoffed "Yeah, I noticed. How much did I drink?"

"You were halfway through your second bottle of brandy when Vega cut you off." Garrus said simply, but the humour in his voice couldn't be helped.

"Ugh, I'm never drinking again." Ashley said, unaware that she had said those words to Liara "I swear to god, if you ever see another glass in my hand again, shoot me."

"I daren't do that, Shepard wouldn't forgive me if I did." Garrus said.

In that one instant, the memories of the day before came flooding back into Ashley's head, and why she had turned to the bottle for support. "Garrus, I..."

"You don't need to explain." Garrus said holding his hands up. "Liara spoke to us all after she put you to bed, we know, and to be honest I don't blame you. The two of you have been through so much."

"How did she..." Ashley began, but Garrus had already begun to answer.

"She spoke to Hackett about it after you mentioned it to Vega in your drunken ramblings." Garrus said, still in a humoured voice.

Ashley had picked up on Garrus' tone finally. "Alright, what's so funny."

"Nothing really, I'm just thinking how many credits I can make if I wrote a romance novel about the two of you." Garrus said "Two Human Spectre's who fall in love, I think I'll make millions."

Ashley couldn't help but openly laugh, for as long as she could remember, Garrus was always making light of a bad situation, but he knew to keep within his boundaries. "Alright, save the terrible jokes for Joker."

"Where do you think I got the idea from?" Garrus said which garnered more laughs from Ashley. "He might not like it that I stole his idea, but I'll dedicate the first page to thanking him for the millions of credits, that might make him feel better."

Ashley couldn't help but grin some more "So it's going to be a proper book is it? Alright, if it makes him feel better then maybe I could sign his copy for him."

Garrus couldn't help but chuckle lightly "I was considering giving him some royalties, but a signature from you and Shepard would do more than enough for him."

Ashley felt her grin begin to fade, the mention of Shepard had bough her back down to earth and now she could only think of nought but him.

Garrus quickly picked up that he had said something wrong and decided now would be a good time to leave "Anyway, Tali sent me up here to see if you were okay, you are, so I'll just leave you to it." He pushed himself off the door frame and made to exit "Oh, and I think Vega is making some eggs, so you better hurry if you want some."

Ashley made to respond, but the door shut before she could, and that left her alone, with nothing but her sober thoughts. After another helping of water, she left the bathroom and took a seat at Shepard's desk, looking up at all the ship models he had come to collect, she never thought of him as the type to collect these kinds of things, but there they were, even the fish and hamster were a nice little surprise. As she gathered her thoughts, she couldn't help but think what awaited her when they began their return to Earth? She was a colony girl, through and through, Sirona would always be her true home, but Earth was a different kind of home, one that always had that sense of familiarity, she was human after all and Earth was the birthplace of the human race.

Ashley then made to open up the private terminal and see whether she had received anything over the extranet, in the process of doing so, she accidentally knocked over a inactive picture frame that had been sitting beside it. She silently cursed her clumsiness as she set to put it back right, but as she did, she was met with a familiar sight, she was staring at a picture of herself, back from her Gunnery chief days. At first she couldn't believe she had always kept her hair tied up like that, now that she gotten so used to having it let down. But she remembered this picture, she remembered just who had taken it as well, John.

She remembered it clearly, it had been a little less than a week after they had saved the Citadel and its council from Sovereign, they had been sent to round up the remaining Geth in the Terminus systems. They had just cleared up a small band somewhere in the Armstrong Nebula when he just came out and asked if he could take a picture of her. Of course she asked why, and to this day she remembered his reply.

_"I need it in case I ever forget what I'm fighting for."_

She couldn't help but smile as she put the picture frame back down beside the terminal, completely forgetting that she had sat down to use it. Seeing this picture of her bought back the same warm feelings to her heart whenever she was with Shepard, to know that he had held onto something like this for so long was an immense comfort, it just went to show her just how much she truly meant to him. Why had she been so stupid the day before, she had practically given up on him when she decided to turn to the bottle for comfort, she should have known better. John was still alive and if she really did mean everything to him, he would return to her.

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

After an hour, Ashley left the loft and made her way down to the CIC feeling refreshed after a nice long shower, she couldn't help but look down at the outfit she now wore, she was wearing the same dress she wore to Elijah Kahn's casino while they were in a hunt for Shepard's clone, whom they didn't know existed at the time. Why she was wearing this dress was beyond her, if anything she would have preferred to wear her field armour instead of this, she had to admit she did like how she looked in it, but right now she was on duty and it didn't seem like a time to dress up for a night on the town. Tali had bought it up to her insisting it was the only clean thing she had available, but deep down something told her she was being a tease, just like any typical little sister would do. She exited the elevator into the CIC and instantly gathered some interested looks from some of the male personnel, as well as Traynor. She ignored their looks and made her way up to the cockpit to see if they were ready to get airborne, when she opened the door and the chair swivelled around, it wasn't Joker sitting down, it was "Cortez? What are you doing up here?"

"Ma'am." Steve greeted respectfully "Joker is currently taking a break, so I stepped in and took over the controls for a little while."

"I bet he wasn't happy." Ashley joked "Anyway, I just wanted to see how things were up here and if we were ready to get underway."

"Underway? We have been underway for almost ten hours now." Steve said simply, but shocked Ashley.

"Ten hours?" She repeated, to see if he heard it correctly. If they had been flying for over ten hours now, just how long had she been asleep?

"Yes ma'am. Traynor's little trick worked with the QEC." Steve said "We were able to find out our position and are currently on our way back to Earth as we speak."

Ashley couldn't help but bow her head in shame "This is what drinking does to me." She couldn't help but mutter.

"Nothing to be ashamed of, ma'am." Steve said "We have had our bad days, but that doesn't mean you can't hold your head up high in the end."

"Thanks Steve." Ashley said with a genuine smile "So, how long will it take us to reach a mass relay?"

Steve's face dropped a little "Unfortunately, we can't use the mass relay network, the mass relays themselves have been badly damaged."

"How?" Ashley asked suddenly, instantly fearing that losing the network would become a crippling blow to the galactic community. "The reapers?"

"No." Steve shook his head "According to Admiral Hackett's report which we received three hours ago, in order for the crucible to reach the entire Milky Way, it had to use the mass relays as a transference device, which left them damaged afterward."

"Then, how long will it take for us to reach Earth without the use of the relays?" Ashley asked.

"Well." Steve said as his chair swivelled back to face the cockpit controls "We were a quarter the way to the Arcturus Stream, our rendezvous with the other fleets, when we exited FTL and crash landed. With the repairs that we made..."

"Without the explanation, please Steve." Ashley said, stopping him in his tracks "My head is still pounding."

"Sorry ma'am." Steve quickly apologised "Our estimates say we will be back in the Sol system in thirty seven hours of constant flight."

"Alright, I'll take your word on that. I'll leave you to it then." Ashley said as she made to leave.

"Oh, one more thing before you leave." Steve said.

"Yes?" Ashley asked as she turned back to him.

"That's a nice dress, I suits you quite well." Steve said, not turning back to face her.

Ashley just rolled her eyes and muttered 'men' as she left the cockpit. She hastily walked to the elevator and made to go down to the third deck and have a chat with Liara, hoping to find out what had been going on while she slept. She left the elevator, again ignoring the stares from the alliance personnel and approached Liara's door and made to open it, she patiently stood there while it took its time to open, as per usual. Eventually it opened and Ashley entered the brokers office, the door shutting behind her. Liara, who had been sitting down at one of her terminals, got up to greet the Lieutenant Commander "Ash, how are you feeling?" She asked with genuine concern.

"I'm fine, just a minor headache and a constantly rumbling stomach." Ashley said "As you can probably tell, I came down here to talk to you."

"Yes, of course." Liara said "What did you want to know?"

"What exactly happened yesterday?" Ashley asked "I remember bits and pieces, but the rest is just a blur."

"Well, to make a long story short, you basically drank far too much and we had to take care of you." Liara said "Though while you were drinking, we finally managed to find and contain the radiation leak, and we were able to get airborne, so we left after we got our exact coordinates."

"Why wasn't I told all this at least?" Ashley asked, feeling a little let down.

"We did tell you, for the most part." Liara said "But when we were fully prepared to leave, you were already fast asleep. So, we thought you'd want to get out of here sooner rather than later, so we left yesterday, just before the sun went down."

Liara did make a point, she did want to return to earth as soon as possible, and she wasn't entirely angry at the fact they had taken the initiative. She was more or less annoyed at herself for all she had done yesterday. "Alright, that's fine. To be honest, I don't really want to hear anymore about yesterday."

Liara smiled "I can assure you, you didn't do anything stupid, other than sit at that bar and drink."

Ashley couldn't deny, that was one of the things that she had been fearing most, just how much of a jack-ass had she made of herself. "Well, that's a relief. I suppose."

"Yes." Liara said simply. "Ashley, I do have a little question for you, if you don't mind my asking."

"Shoot."

"Well, I stayed up in the loft to make sure you got a good sleep." Liara said "And I couldn't help but notice that you seemed to be having a bad dream, what was it?"

Ashley felt her face drop "It's... Well, I don't know."

"Just because I'm an information broker, doesn't mean I don't know how to keep a secret." Liara said in reassurance.

Ashley gave her an appreciative smile. "Thanks." She took a deep breath. "Okay, here goes." She began as she launched into detail about what her dream had been about, her and Shepard's final moments together. At the end of it, Liara said nothing, just sat there with a genuine look on concern on her face.

"By the Goddess..." Liara said when Ashley had finished her explanation. "I didn't know that all that had happened. When Shepard chose you and Garrus to accompany him to the beam, he sent the rest of us back to the Normandy."

"I wanted to go with him so badly, Liara." Ashley said, now siting down on a vacant seat. "I wanted to make sure he would make it to the end."

"But he did make it, somehow he managed to get to the beam." Liara said. "We both know Shepard has never been one to back down, no matter how slim the odds."

"But what happened in there? What happened that put him into such a terrible state?" Ashley asked, on the verge of hysterics, she just hated how her emotions could turn on at the flick of a switch.

"We can only guess." Liara said "_When_ he wakes up, you can ask him." She put as much emphasis into 'when' as she could.

"I can't do that, asking him to relive something like that? I might offend him." Ashley said, leaning over and resting her elbows on her knees and covering her face with her hands.

"I think..." Liara said as she knelt down in front of Ashley and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder "... That you need to get some more rest. Twelve hours apparently wasn't enough to get rid of that disastrous hangover."

"I'm fine, I just... Need something to eat and I'll be fine." Ashley said, hoping to dismiss the fact that she felt so helpless.

"You stay here and let me get you something." Liara said before Ashley could rise, even though when they first met, the tension was enough to cut glass, but they had both moved past it and now were almost like sisters.

Ashley resigned to the fact that Liara wouldn't take no for an answer and have her an appreciative smile. "Thanks Liara, I really appreciate it."

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

"Seriously, you have the biggest tell!" James shouted as he threw his hands up in the air, both in frustration and annoyance.

"I can't help it." Joker said, still with a grin on his face. "I love the fact that I'm going to win and can't hide it."

James just groaned and threw his cards onto the table, teaching Joker how to play poker was about as easy as teaching a Krogan calculus. "Hijo de puta." James cursed in Spanish "Seriously, before we reach Earth, I will mould you a poker face."

"Just give me some Botox before we play." Joker said with a grin as he laid his five cards down on the table, revealing he had somehow earned a straight flush.

"No no no, it won't work that way." James said, an even more annoyed look spread across his face as he saw the second best poker hand in the game. "Having a poker face will be useful outside the game as well."

"Oh? So if I ever faced down Harbinger again I could just put on my poker face and scare him off?" Joker asked.

This garnered a humoured grin from James, he made to answer but the door opened behind them and Garrus entered, pulling Tali in with him. "Finally, some peace and quiet away from prying eyes."

Tali couldn't help but giggle in a way that was very unlike her. "Of course Vakarian, no one would want to see what I am about to do to you." She said, completely oblivious that James and Joker were watching, both fighting hard to suppress fits of laughter.

"Oh?" Garrus said, now pulling Tali close. "You used my body, now I think it's time I used yours."

"Garrus!" Tali said with mock shock, but she was still humoured. "Just what kind of girl do you think I am?"

"I don't know." Garrus said, as Tali's hands began moving up his armour. "But we have a while to find that out, don't we?"

At the point, they couldn't hold it in any longer and both James and Joker burst out laughing, causing both Garrus and Tali to stare in their direction and they immediately leapt apart when they realised they had been seen.

"I was just, uhh..." Garrus said, quickly racking his brain to think of an excuse.

"Oh boy." Tali said, covering her mask with her hand to further hide the embarrassment. It didn't help things that the two humans were still laughing heartily.

After what felt like an age in the galaxy, James and Joker both eased their laughing to small fits of chuckles. "I think I broke a rib from laughing so hard." Joker chuckled humorously. "Honestly, I haven't had such a laugh in a long time."

Garrus was glad that turians didn't have the proper blood flow to blush. "Listen, we didn't know anyone was in here, if we did, we..." He began, but a quick shake of Tali's head and Joker's burst back into hysteric laughter shut him up.

"Relax guys." James said "It's nothing to be embarrassed about, well, it is actually, you really should have looked first." Joker who had only just stopped laughing, snorted quite loudly. "The point is, if you two like each other in that way, I'm not opposed to it, in fact I support it fully."

"Me too, just keep the public displays of affection to a minimum." Joker said.

Garrus and Tali both looked at each other, slowly the two began to smile at one another. "Well, it's worth a shot, isn't it?" Tali said.

Garrus nodded "I was hoping you would say that."

"Hey, alright!" James said loudly "That's what I'm talking about, this calls for a celebration." He leapt from his seat at the poker table and grabbed a bottle of an asari liquor and four glasses, setting them down in the table and pouring a clear, purple liquid into each glass. Garrus and Tali sat down at the poker table as James passed the drinks to everyone, Tali had produced a straw from seemingly nowhere. "Alright, a toast to... to..." James began, but he wasn't sure what to toast on this occasion.

"To those we lost in the war." Joker said as he held his glass up. "If not for them, none of us would be here now. A round of drinks in their honour is the best way to celebrate a victory well earned."

"Hear hear!" Garrus said, holding his own glass up to match Joker's. Tali and James both held their glasses up and they all then downed their drink. Garrus, Joker and James all made bitter faces at the asari liquor, though Tali seemed to enjoy it, drinking it slowly through the straw.

"What the hell is that, James?" Joker asked.

James picked up the bottle "It's a post mix, Thessian Temple. No wonder it tasted bad, you need to mix a drink like this from scratch."

"I quite like it." Tali said. "It's nice and mild."

James just raised his eyebrow, but he didn't push it, Tali's preferences were her own in the end. "Well, as we are all sitting around, how about a round of Texas hold'em?"

"Texas, what?" Garrus asked, thinking James had gotten his words mixed up.

"Poker." James said, as if it were common knowledge.

"I haven't actually played poker before." Garrus admitted "Gambling was never something I got into, I kept losing."

"Nah, we won't bet any real money. It's just for fun." James said. "Besides, it won't be hard to teach you compared to this pendejo." He grabbed the deck of cards and began shuffling them.

"Hey! I'm sitting right here!" Joker said in annoyance, but that quickly changed when he saw the cards James had given him.

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

Over a day had passed, and now the Normandy was on approach to the Sol system, another hour and they would reach Earth after what felt like an eternity of flying. Joker had retaken the helm from Cortez and was now bring them in on the final stretch of their journey.

"Joker, I've been meaning to ask you." Steve suddenly asked, he had been sitting beside Joker, observing how easy he made it to fly a warship like this. "How did you come to be the pilot of the most advanced warship in the Alliance fleet?"

"Promise you won't laugh?" Joker said, keeping his full attention on his controls.

"Depends on how good the story is." Steve said simply.

"Okay, well the SR-1 had just been completed, and they wanted to take it out on a test flight, I applied to be her pilot, but got rejected because of my Vrolik's syndrome." Joker said, still keeping his focus on the controls. "I got fed up with the bulshit, so I just took it."

"Wait, you mean you just 'took' the Normandy from dry dock at Arcturus?" Steve asked in disbelief, was this one of Joker's usual jokes.

"Yeah, both with Anderson and a turian General watching." Joker said like it was nothing, but the grin on his face was full of nothing less than satisfaction.

"Alright, I'm finding this a little hard to believe." Steve said, humoured by the story.

"I'm not joking, I tied the other pilot up and took the Normandy." Joker said "I had something to prove, just because I have a disability didn't mean I couldn't pilot the Alliance best warship at the time."

"Oh yeah? And then what happened?" Steve said, still not believing a word.

"I made her dance, they sent out fighters to try and stop me, thinking I was hijacking it, they were right, but I still managed to take her along the flight plan." Joker said "All the while, avoiding their gunfire and proving to them just who truly deserved to pilot it."

"And they just let you pilot it after that." Steve said, the humoured grin still plastered on his face "I don't know where you get this overactive imagination from, but when you retire, you should think about writing a book or two."

"Maybe I will, an autobiography about myself." Joker said "I wonder if Allers might help write it for me." Steve couldn't help but laugh as he left the cockpit, and Joker just glared as he walked away. "You'll see! You'll see I wasn't lying!" He called after him, but Steve's response was just a casual wave from over the shoulder.

Joker sighed and went back to his controls, checking if all was right with the Normandy, their fuel supply was almost exhausted, which was to be understandable for the distance they had travelled. He silently thanked Shepard for getting larger fuel supplies during their mission against the collectors. On a lingering instinct, Joker looked to his right, at the empty co-pilot seat, he had gotten so used to the sight of EDI, even though she was spread throughout the ship, it was still nice to have her sitting there beside him. Not to mention it improved his morale and fed his ego to have a beauty like her sitting in co-pilot.

A top priority transmission came across Joker's controls, it appeared to be coming from an Alliance ship in the vicinity. Joker opened up the comms to see who was hailing them "This is Alliance Ship, SSV Normandy."

"Admiral Hacket here." His voice popped up over the comms as an Alliance cruiser jumped from FTL on their Starboard side. "Requesting permission to board."

Joker out the hail from Hackett on hold and immediately opened up a private one to Ashley. "The Admiral has arrived in a cruiser and is requesting permission to dock."

"Permission granted. I'll come up and meet him."

"Alright." Joker said, shutting off Ashley's comm and resuming the Admiral's "Permission granted, sir. The Lieutenant Commander will be here to greet you momentarily."

From the cruiser, an air lock from the cruisers port side extended across and latched onto the Normandy's air lock with a loud hiss as the passageway became pressurised. Ashley and James both soon appeared a little out of breath, but they both straightened up and sprang to salute when the air lock opened to reveal the Admiral himself. "At ease." He said, and both Ashley and James relaxed.

"Sir, I must say, I didn't expect to see you until we arrived." Ashley admitted.

"All things considering, I thought it might be best if I came and greeted you before the return home." Hackett said. "Is there anywhere we can go to debrief?"

"The conference room, sir. Please, follow me." Ashley said as she began to make her way, the Admiral following closely behind and James bringing up the rear. All Alliance personnel came to greet the Admiral and stood to salute as he walked past them all. After passing through the scanner, they all entered the conference room and the noise dampening doors slid shut behind them.

"I'm not sure where to begin." The Admiral began grimly. Ashley and James both remained silent, both eager to hear the news and dreading what might follow. "Well, first things first. Throughout this war, you have both done the Alliance proud, Lieutenant Commander Williams, I never got the chance to congratulate you making it into the Spectres."

"Thank you, sir." Ashley said, extremely appreciative of the praise.

"And Lieutenant Vega, your actions in helping Commander Shepard all throughout his expeditions have become something of legend in Allaince command." Hackett said "And your invitation to join the N7 was no fluke. They recognise potential, and you have plenty."

"I was just doing my job, sir." James said, somehow managing to his the smugness in his voice from the Admiral.

"Therefore, I am promoting you both to Commander, and Lieutenant-Commander, effective immediately." Hackett said.

Ashley and James couldn't help but both stare at each other, both shocked by this surprising promotion, but it didn't feel right. "Sir." Ashley began "I... I can't accept this promotion."

"Please explain yourself." Hackett said

"Don't get me wrong sir, I'm greatly appreciative of the thought." Ashley said "But with all that has gone on, it just doesn't feel right."

"I'm not giving you this promotion as a token gesture." Hackett said "You have earned your keep with humanity, and the Alliance rewards hard work and dedication. You have more than proved yourself a competent commanding officer and a damn good soldier. This is my, and the Alliances way of saying thank you."

Ashley made to answer back, but couldn't help but smile, she knew know the 'Williams curse' or so her father called it, had been broken. "Thank you, Admiral. When you put it that way, there is no way I can't say no."

"Then congratulations, Commander." Hackett said, holding his hand out to the now Commander Ashley Williams, she took it and shook enthusiastically. He turned to James "And Lieutenant-Commander." He held his hand out to James who also shook.

Ashley couldn't help but feel a little selfish with this promotion, surely there were others out there that deserved this more than she did. "Sir, it wouldn't feel right if it were just James and I, everyone aboard the Normandy has more than pulled their weight throughout the war. It has been a collective effort on their part, none of us would be here if not for any of them."

"I understand, but that is a tall order." Hackett said "Let me think about it and I will get back to you."

Ashley nodded, she could have sworn she felt Shepard speaking through her just then, she knew that would be what he wanted.

"As for Commander Shepard, if he recovers he will receive the Alliance's highest honour and of course it will come with his promotion." Hackett said. "Also, while I am on the topic, with Shepard currently recovering, the Normandy needs a commanding officer. Commander Williams, I would like you to fill that role."

Ashley was taken aback by this new order "Of... Of course, sir. But when John is able, I will stand down and let him resume command." It suddenly dawned to her that she had never properly used his name before, it was always 'Commander' 'Shepard' or 'Skipper'

"Of course, Commander. That's a very respectful choice." Hackett said, his grim look still spread across his face.

Ever since he had come aboard, Ashley had been waiting to ask the question of Shepard's condition. "Sir." She began, not sure if she did want to go through with it all. "How is... he?"

The grim looked on Hackett's face faded a little. "Promising. Since our previous communication, he has stabilised considerably and is now beginning to react to outside stimuli. It's only a matter of time before he will wake up, though his injuries are still pretty bad, but he'll heal."

Ashley felt a massive weight lift from her shoulders, to hear that Shepard was in such a promising condition, it made her want to leap for joy and leap across the conference table and kiss the Admiral, but she restrained herself. "Sir, may I ask where he is?"

"After we got him stabilised, we transferred him to the SSV Orizaba. They have a better medical practice aboard, and he is kept under the constant watch of his mother." Hackett said. "The Orizaba is currently docked in Vancouver, so when we reach Earth, I'll understand if you wish to go and see him right away."

"That would be appreciative, sir." Ashley said "I know the crew will be happy to finally set foot back on Earth."

"Of course, but we'll have a hell of a task rebuilding." Hackett said

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, what's the situation with the other fleets?" Ashley asked.

"Out of the combined fleets, the Asari suffered minimal casualties. The Quarian flotilla has taken quite a blow, fortunately they left behind their liveships at Rannoch to begin re-colonising their home world." Hackett began "The Turian armada managed to deal some crippling blows to the Reaper forces, but in saying that, the Reapers did too. As for the Alliance, we lost most of the first and third fleets, our fifth was cut in half and the seventh and sixth fleets have taken minimal damage, they were apart of Shield fleet. After Ontoram, I sent the remainder Eighth Fleet to the Serpent Nebula to provide cover for the council, this was before the reapers took control of the Citadel."

"Was the Eighth fleet apart of the battle over Earth?" James couldn't help but ask suddenly, he had been very quiet the entire time.

"I wish the news was better, but when the reapers arrived to take control of the Citadel, in a brave front, Admiral van der Hewitt met them head on and bought precious time in which a large portion of the Citadel got evacuated." Hackett said grimly "She, and all her crew will be remembered as heroes."

"What of the Councillors? Did they survive?" Ashley asked, curious if the politicians who sat back while the Reapers harvested their civilisation.

"Yes, they managed to get aboard the Destiny Ascension and flee the Nebula. They then separated to command their own fleets." Hackett said. "Though Sparatus, the turian councillor, joined his own men and fought with them on the battlefield. Unfortunately he was killed helping to defend an Alliance outpost that had come under attack. Needless to say, if it wasn't for him, we would have lost it."

Ashley felt a wave of pure respect flow through her for the fallen turian councillor, she was always under the impression that he disliked humans. "And the others?"

"As expected, Tevos decided to play the conservative game, the Asari only defended themselves when attacked and didn't rush to save any of the other fleets that came under attack." Hackett said quite bitterly. "Valern was the smartest of the bunch, he stood down when he realised just how different a commanding officer and a politician really were, the Salarians wouldn't have survived if he hadn't realised. Instead he joined Shield Fleet and helped to make final preparations for the Crucible."

Ashley felt a bitter hatred for the Asari councillor, but she wasn't surprised at all over the circumstances, she always put her races needs above everyone else's. "So what now, sir?"

"We rebuild." Hackett said simply "Earth will play host to the other races for a while until the Sol Relay can be repaired, we have already sent teams on engineers to see what they can do about it. We're yet to hear back from them."

Ashley nodded "Of course sir, if there is anything we can do to help."

"Thank you, Commander." Hackett said in appreciation "For now, dry dock in Vancouver and let the Normandy and her crew have some rest. I will contact you when and if you are needed."

Ashley sprang to salute, as did James behind her. "Yes sir!"

"Good." Hackett said, he was distracted as he looked out the window and saw a giant red planet out the window "Mars. You're almost home, as for me, I should return to the fleets." He saluted the two officers and began to make his way from the conference room.

Ashley and James escorted the Admiral back to his ship and watched as it disengaged and flew on ahead. They both entered the cockpit with Joker, he opened the shutters and all three looked out the front, just ahead lay the homeworld of the human race, Earth.

"Take a good long look guys." Joker said "We're home."


	4. Chapter 3

_Hello all! Sorry this one took so long to get up, and I do apologise if this one feels a little rushed, I didn't take the chance to go through it a second time and make last minute corrections. But enough of the excuses, plot shall start to develop here, I promise. Anywho, that's all I need to say for now, don't forget to leave a nice review!_

* * *

**Mass Effect: Duty Calls**

**Chapter 3 - The Galaxies Final Warning**

Vancouver. One of many Alliance Headquarters attacked during the first and only push in which the Reapers took Earth. Though not as bad as London, the proud Canadian city had taken a fair hit from the Reaper forces, most of the buildings and structures remained intact, however some had to be abandoned due to the risk of their imminent collapse. More than half of the population had managed to escape the doomed city, but those that been left behind either sought refuge in many of the hidden, underground shelters, or they joined the Alliance resistance movement. By some miracle of the gods, the resistant movement had managed to keep control over Vancouver as a whole, the reaper forces were relatively easy to deal with, but the large reapers themselves were a different story. That was why they limited their attacks to quick hit and runs and defending key outposts, it was all they could do, but it seemed to keep the large city under their control.

The space port was heavily damaged, to be expected, and was currently full to the brim with surviving ships of the amassed fleets. As the Normandy slowly flew in to dry dock, a large crowd of the many species that had fought for their freedom and human civilians had gathered nearby and watched as the majestic warship docked within the spaceport and erupted into a loud applause when the crew stepped off onto the docks. Why had they? If not for the Normandy and her crew, then the war would still be being fought and they would all be harvested by the Reapers. Ashley had been one of the first to step off the Normandy, when she heard the applause she felt a massive swell in her pride, and couldn't help but smile and wave up at everyone. _"Is this what it feels like to be famous? I could get used to this."_ She thought to herself. But she didn't linger on her thoughts, there had been a reason she was the first off, she wanted to see Shepard.

She immediately continued along her way, pushing through the crowd to where she saw the SSV Orizaba dry docked, it was only a short distance between the two, but with everyone distracting her with congratulations, it made manoeuvring difficult. Eventually, she managed to spill out of the crowd and slowly approached the Orizaba's airlock where two Alliance soldiers stood guard, at the approach of Ashley they both stood to salute the recently promoted Commander.

Ashley returned their salute with one of her own "Commander Ashley Williams, requesting permission to come aboard the..." She began, but was cut off when the airlock opened, and in its wake, stood a middle aged woman wearing Alliance Blues.

"Permission granted, Commander Williams."

Ashley turned her attention to this woman, she had golden coloured hair with signs of greying, steely blue eyes that look incredibly familiar, this was John's mother, Hannah Shepard. "Ma'am. I was hoping to check up on the recovery of Commander Shepard."

"There is no need for such formalities." Hannah said, dropping her Alliance facade "Even though John isn't awake, I know he would have loved a visit from you."

Ashley relaxed and gave the Rear-Admiral a appreciative smile, she made to walk onboard with Hannah, but stopped when she heard a small ruckus behind her. It seems that many of the Normandy crew were fighting their way through the crowds to join Ashley in visiting their old friend.

"Out of our way, humans!" Came the unmistakeable bellowing of the vengeful ancient, Javik. A biotic blast caused many of them to disperse and opened a clear way for them, some screams of fear could be heard amongst the loud applause still going around.

"Javik, that was highly unnecessary." Liara said in a disapproving tone.

Ashley couldn't help but groan and hide her face, embarrassed that this had to happen in front of Shepard's own mother. "Oh god." She couldn't help but mutter to herself.

However it wasn't as bad as she had thought, Hannah Shepard was actually smiling quite amusedly. "So, this is the crew of the Normandy." She said as they all gathered in front of her. All the Alliance personnel stood to attention for their superior officer. "I cannot express how thankful I am that John had all of you to help him along the way." Hannah wasn't speaking to them as their superior officer any longer, but as a mother "If not for any of you, I would have lost my son long ago. I owe you all more than a simple debt, and I simply cannot thank you all enough for what you have done."

Everyone remained silent, everyone had a different look on their faces. James and Traynor still kept their faces still, but a hint of a smile was showing, Javik remained emotionless as usual, while Joker, Ashley, Liara, Garrus and Tali all had big smiles on their faces, they had all been with the John Shepard the longest.

"Now, I'm sure you would all like to pay him a visit, please follow me." Hannah said, turning around and walking back into the Orizaba. The Normandy crew did not hesitate and followed suit, the applause ceasing when they entered and the airlock sealed shut behind them. Hannah continued to lead them through the Alliance cruiser, many of the stationed officers couldn't help but stare at the legendary crew of the Normandy. Passing the stares, they eventually entered the medical wing. "He is down the end there, but don't all rush him at once. The medics don't like overcrowding."

"Of course." Ashley said, speaking for them all.

"I will leave all of you to it, I should resume my duties." Hannah said as she made to leave them alone "If you need anything however, please don't hesitate to ask." She exited the medical wing, leaving them all to do their own thing.

"Go on, Ash." Garrus said from behind them all. "It's fair if you go first."

A murmur of agreement followed Garrus' suggestion, and she couldn't help but smile at them. "Thanks guys, I really appreciate it." Slowly Ashley began to make her way forward, the furtherest rooms drawing ever nearer.

Suddenly she stopped moving, not moving an inch but staring at the frosted glass door that his her from a perfect view of her true love. All she wanted to do right now was burst in there and see him, kiss him, embrace him, but the fear of the unknown kept her rooted to the spot, just how extensive had the damage to his body been? Admiral Hackett never went into too much detail. All she wanted to do now was lift up her hand and open the door, but this silly fear kept it at her side.

Liara had separated from the rest and silently approached Ashley, she gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ash, what's wrong?"

"I... I can't go in there." Ashley said, barely managing to find her voice "I mean, I really want to, but I just can't." She could feel herself on the verge of tears, all that separated her from her love was a simple glass door, not light years anymore. It had been so much easier to cope with the longer distance, but know that she was within feet of him, it scared her.

"What are you talking about?" Liara asked, the whole concept being lost on her.

"I... I don't know what to expect." Ashley said, still choking back the tears that see beginning to show signs of falling.

Liara remained silent, she wasn't sure what she could say to help Ashley make that step across the threshold, so she decided action would be the better action. She reached up to the doors holographic interface and activated the door. Ashley looked at her in disbelief, wondering why she had done that, but as the door hissed opened she got a clearer view of John. It immediately reminded her of the description he had given her when he had gone to visit her in Huerta, he lay upon the bed, heavily bruised on his faced and on parts of his exposed chest. She stepped into the room, her fear disappearing when she glanced upon him, she ignored the beeping of the medical equipment around them and moved to his side.

She gently reached out to cup his face, noticing how calm he looked, almost as if he were taking a peaceful nap. As soon as her hand made contact with his skin, she felt a massive wave of emotion flood through her, he was the real thing, she couldn't help as tears flooded her eyes and she began to cry, though they weren't tears of sorrow, but happiness. She heard the door behind her shut, Liara had left her alone and had gone to rejoin the others, she was extremely grateful to the others for allowing her to be alone with him, even though he was not awake. "I can't believe you survived." She breathed, unable to keep her voice straight. "I thought I'd lost you, again." She drew up a seat and sat at Shepard's side, her hand leaving his face and intertwining her hand in his. Even if he didn't squeeze back, their warmth gave her nothing but comfort.

She continued to stare at his face, looking upon the heavy scars that were there, each one wanted to tell a story, but they would have to wait, for now, all Ashley wanted to do was bask in his presence, it was an immense comfort. A smile slowly crept to her face, consisting of both utter happiness and embarrassment, she had let the past two days get to her, always convincing herself that he wasn't coming back, that she had lost him again. But even in a coma, he always found a way to rope her back in she both loved and hated him for it. "Guess what." She said, even though he probably couldn't hear her, it was still a comfort to speak to him "You did it, the Reapers and their forces have been destroyed. You can rest easy now."

"Come back to me Shepard." She said, again knowing he wouldn't hear her "I need you, I love you so damned much. This is an order from your equal, Commander Williams." She couldn't help but chuckle, Ashley couldn't believe she had just said that, thank goodness he didn't have to hear that.

Before she could say anything else, she heard a large commotion coming from the Orziba's CIC, alarms and the sound of many running to their stations. Against all the will she possessed, she let Shepard's hand to and left him inside his room to go see what was going on, it wasn't only her that decided to find out what was going on, the gathered Normandy crew had all gone to the CIC as well. She came out into the CIC to see and hear a mass of panic and the bellowing of orders. "All personnel to their stations! I want this cruiser airborne in sixty seconds people!"

Ashley recognised the tone immediately, it reminded her of John back in the medical wing. She approached Hannah Shepard cautiously "Ma'am, what is going on?"

"We received warnings from the Kilimanjaro, they detected energy signatures that matched that of the reapers." Hannah Shepard said quickly. "And they are headed this way, they have already disabled the remnants of the fifth fleet, who had gone on an intercept course."

"The... But how? We thought they had all been destroyed!" Ashley said in complete disbelief.

"I don't know, Commander, but you and your crew had best return to the Normandy." Shepard said.

"They can go, I'm staying." Ashley said immediately, without a second thought.

Shepard now looked up at her. "Williams. They need a CO on that deck, we cannot lose the Normandy!"

"I can command them from here, they are more than capable without me!" Ashley said, every word she said right now went against everything she believed in, disobeying a superior officer. "Please, I can't leave him, I don't want to leave him. I only just got him back." She pleaded desperately.

Hannah Shepard looked at Ashley, not sure whether she should feel scandalised that her orders were being directly disobeyed, or pride that this woman loved her own son that much she would refuse to leave his side. In the end, her motherly side won her over "Very well Commander, but I want that frigate flying in close quarters."

Ashley sprang to salute "Yes ma'am." She turned and looked to the Normandy crew who were all still together and out of the Orizaba's crews way. "Get back to the Normandy, all of you." She ordered "I need it airborne immediately and providing cover for the Orizaba."

"What's going..."

"Now!"

The Normandy crew sprang to action and ran to the main airlock and left the Orizaba. In no time the Normandy was ready for flight and both ships were ready to leave dry dock and evacuate. However, just as Hannah Shepard gave the order to disengage the magnetic locks holding their ships in place, a large pulse seemingly echoed from nowhere and struck the dry docks, immediately disabling every ship that was docked within.

"Damage report!" Hannah barked at the nearest subordinate.

"All systems have shut down and are unresponsive." They replied "We're dead in the water."

Ashley made to contact the Normandy, but Joker had already beaten her to the punch. "Normandy to Williams, do you copy?" Came his voice over Ashley's personal comm.

"I read you Joker, damage report." Ashley spoke into the comms.

"All systems down. Garrus, Tali and James just ran to do a hard reset on the whole system." Joker said again.

"I have a visual!" Yelled out one if the Orizaba's crew who had been starring out the hull window. With the low cloud now out, it made it difficult to see much of anything, but large silhouettes could be made out as they drew closer to dry dock. Eventually, whatever they were had touched down very close to dry dock, they appeared to be Reapers, though they didn't seem like any reaper Ashley had seen, it looked more like an extremely large squid.

"Weapons check, are our main cannons online!" Shepard barked out once more.

"Affirmative ma'am. But they are locked in the forward position, we can't turn them to fire." An officer called back.

"Dammit!" Shepard cursed loudly.

Ashley hadn't been paying much attention, she had been staring out the hull window with many other officers in the CIC, something felt strangely familiar about it, being in its presence reminded her of the time she, Shepard, EDI and Cortez were stranded on 2181 Desponia after their shuttle was swatted out of the air by a similar pulse that had rendered the Orizaba and Normandy helpless. Even while on the floating wreckage, she felt the constant feeling of cold and darkness, just like she was now. "Could it be... the Leviathan?"

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

_"Shepard..."_

_A vaguely familiar and very unpleasant feeling crept up within Shepards unconscious mind. He felt cold and nothing but darkness all around him, dark and rippling water surrounded him and went on as far as the eye could see, he knew what this was. "Leviathan." He said in a cold tone, he wasn't sure why they had sought him out, but he had a feeling it didn't bring good news._

_A fake Ann Bryson appeared before Shepard, her mouth moved but it was not her voice. "The Cycle has been broken, the Reapers all across the Galacy are no more."_

_Shepard couldn't help but smile at this news, he had achieved exactly what he had set out to do all those years ago. But something bugged him, the way in which Leviathan said the Reapers had been destroyed "What do you mean, across the Galaxy."_

_"The intelligence that created the Reapers, it has contingencies in place should a civilisation rise and defeat the Reapers." The Leviathan Bryson said "It would have not sent its full force from Dark Space."_

_"How do you know this?" Shepard asked sharply, feeling his heart begin to race light years in a minute. "The Catalyst said all Reapers would be destroyed."_

_"We know it, because it is what we would do. We built the intelligence, we know how it thinks." Bryson-Leviathan said. "It knows chaos will resume over time, and it will prepare for it." Shepard went silent, he thought back to the words of the Catalyst._

_"Soon, your children will create synthetics, and then the chaos will come back."_

_Shepard felt a massive surge of anger, at both the Catalyst and himself, the Catalyst had lied to him, but it could have easily been avoided if he had chosen a different option. He didn't deny, Controlling the Reapers was a preferred decision, but he didn't want to turn into the Illusive Man and exceed his limit of power, he would have had so much, and Shepard couldn't even trust himself with it. Maybe the Synthesis option would have been a better choice, everyone would still be alive and have freedom, but the Reapers would still be around, but would they have ceased their harvest when they realised that they were all the same being?_

_"You can easily avoid all this, and succeed where we failed." Bryson-Leviathan said "Keep the Galaxy in peace, and the remaining Reapers will never return. They will remain in Dark Space."_

_"How?" Shepard asked "You're asking the impossible, conflict and war will always arise, it is just the nature of all Aliens, but it is up to us to bring peace out of it, not sentient machines!"_

_"This is the final warning we leave to you." Bryson Leviathan said "Should the Reapers ever return, we will not join the conflict again."_

_Shepard was contemplating too much to listen to the Leviathan any longer, the peace Shepard fought so hard to achieve throughout the war was now just a kick in the balls. Nothing, not even the most advanced machines had the right to play God with the galaxy, every species deserved to live and fend for themselves._

_"Do not give the remaining Reapers the chance to come and finish their harvest." Bryson-Leviathan said "The Galaxy will look to you for leadership, and what will you tell them then?"_

_"The truth." Shepard said without a second thought. "They now know exactly what the Reapers are capable of, there is no way they will ignore me any longer."_

_Bryson-Leviathan said nothing, almost as if contemplating Shepard's words. "And if they do not believe you?"_

_"Then they can go to hell. I've seen too many die in this pointless war, if they do not accept that peace is the way forward, then... I'll convince them myself." Shepard said grimly, he hoped it would have to come to anything like that, but he knew how stubborn the Council could be, if they had somehow survived._

_"You had better be correct, no other cycle has ever had a second chance at redemption." Bryson-Leviathan said. "Do not waste it."_

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

"The what?" Hannah Shepard asked Ashely having overheard her muttering.

"I think that is the Leviathan." Ashley said in disbelief that they had come to Earth. "They are the very first race the Reapers harvested."

Hannah looked out the window at the Leviathan, a look of disbelief on her face "But... But how? Why are they here?"

"I don't know, but they seemed adamant to get here for some... reason." Ashley said, slowing her speech as she slipped into thought, they could have gone anywhere in the galaxy but chose to come here after the Reapers had been destroyed. Then it hit her "John!" She said suddenly.

Without a second thought, Ashley broke into a run, knocking several of the crew down as she went, their curses followed her but she didn't care, the Leviathan were here for John, there wouldn't be any other reason for it. She tore back through the medical wing reaching John's door, she punched the holographic interface a little harder than she meant to and the door slid open. It was just as she feared, he no longer had the look of peace on his face, but rather one of anguish, as if he were suffering a horrible nightmare and couldn't wake up, not to mention his nose happened to be bleeding profusely. Ashley grabbed a nearby towel and held it up to his bleeding nose to stop the blood from pouring. "Wake up, John. Please, wake up!"

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

_"Please, wake up!"_

_That voice echoed all around them, Shepard recognised it immediately "Ash " he called out in a vain attempt, there was no way she could hear him, but he did it anyway._

_"What will you do now, Shepard?" Bryson-Leviathan said, completely ignoring the pleads of Ashley. "Will you bring peace to the Galaxy? Or will you let it slip and invite the Reapers once more for their harvest."_

_Shepard couldn't help but growl lightly, yes he would prefer the peaceful option, but he knew something like this wouldn't last, somehow and in some way, the peace would be broken again and the galaxy would be doomed to the harvest. "I'll... I'll try." Shepard said lightly._

_"See that you do, the intelligence did not reward this second chance lightly, you understand this." Bryson-Leviathan said "The Galaxy will remain as your know it, so long as peace prevails."_

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

Hannah Shepard had joined Ashley in John's wing. "Just what is going on?" She asked as she spotted the bloody towel in Ashley's hands.

"This is exactly as John explained it." Ashley said in a wavering voice. "The Leviathan is in John's head right now, and I don't know what it is doing."

"Indoctrination?" Hannah asked, grabbing a fresh towel and handing it over to Ashley.

"I don't know, but we need to wake him up." Ashley said, beginning to feel a wave of hysterics coming on. "John! Please, wake up!"

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

_Shepard heard Ashley's voice once again, she sounded scared. "What is going on?" Shepard asked the Bryson-Leviatahn, but its appearance had changed to the fake Garneau._

_"The human female, she tries to wake you." Garneau-Leviathan said._

_"Why?" Shepard asked, unaware what was happening outside his unconscious mind._

_"She believe we are here for you, she is partly correct." Garneau-Leviathan said "We did come here for you, but only to deliver the warning, nothing else. Now that it is done, we leave you. Do not try to find us again, otherwise you will know the true meaning of darkness."_

_"Wait, I have to ask." Shepard said, a thought coming to his head. "Where is the intelligence? If you could tell me where it is, I could go and shut it off, so then the Realer threat will never happen again."_

_"It is a pointless task." Garneau-Leviathan said "For millions of years, we searched for it, tried to destroy it, but it is data, with no point of origin. To try and destroy it would be a fools errand."_

_Shepard went silent, if they Catalyst could not be destroyed, then it only left the Galaxy with one option, and he would have to be the one to enforce it. "Alright, I get it. I had to ask."_

_"Remember, Shepard. Keep the peace of all your species, or the Reapers will return." Garneau-Leviathan said "And we will not help you should they."_

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

In one instant, the connection was severed, the feeling of darkness had lifted. The conversation with the Leviathan within Shepard had unlocked his unconscious mind, allowing him to become aware of his surroundings and wake from his coma. Even though John was now out of his coma, his whole body felt numb and weak, he tried opening his eyes, but even they felt like they weighed a ton.

"Please John, wake up!" Ashley begged. "Listen to my voice, wake up!"

"I'm here Ash." He said weakly, slowly he opened his eyes, the bright light of the outside world slamming into his pupils, but the silhouette of Ashley becoming clearer and clearer until her full beauty came into picture. Gently, he smiled and tried to reach up to her with what he felt was his good arm.

Ashley was utterly speechless, hearing him call her by name sent pleasant ripples throughout her body, he had heard her calling to him. "John... I... I can't believe it!" She reached over and took his hand in her own, the same tears of joy now beginning to fall as they had done before. "I was so worried about you." She said quietly.

"Me too." John said weakly, his intoxicating smile still present.

Ashley couldn't help but smile back also, she hadn't lost him at all, no matter what he would always return to her, she loved him so much and she knew he felt the same way. She left his hand and moved up and placed a kiss on his lips, it was only a short one (She didn't want to give John's mother a wrong impression.) but it lingered. "I love you, John." She whispered with her face so close to his.

"I love you too, Ashley." John replied in the same whisper.

Ashley felt her smile deepen at hearing his confirmation, she always knew he would reply in the same way, but hearing it was the icing in the cake. "I have something I need to go and do, I won't long be long. I have to go and check on the Normandy." She didn't really have to, but she wanted to go back and inform the others that John was now awake.

"Is everyone alright?" John asked as quick as his voice would allow, he wanted to hear so desperately that everyone was safe.

"Everyone is fine." Ashley said, however her smile faded slightly when she realised what she had said. "Except for EDI. She went offline and hasn't come back online yet."

John went quiet, the guilt beginning to swell up within his heavily bruised chest. He knew full well what would happen using the crucible, but he did it anyway, he felt like he had shamed those lost to its influence. "She won't." He said quietly.

Ashley had made to leave the room when she heard John. "What do you mean?"

"I'll explain later." John said, not wanting to get bogged down in details just yet, if he was going to tell anyone what had happened first, it was going to be Joker.

Ashley made to question him about it, but seeing the pained look on his face changed her mind, if whatever it was was eating him up this much, she didn't want to force it out of him, especially after he just woke up. "Alright." She cast Hannah Shepard a quick look "I'll be back soon."

"I'll try not to go anywhere." John replied with a smile.

Ashley couldn't help but roll her eyes and smile, it was good to see John's dry sense of humour remained. Paying him one last look, she exited the room.

"So, that was the Ashley Williams you spoke about in your messages?"

John looked over to who had just spoken, not realising that they were here. He felt his eyes widen when they laid upon Hannah Shepard, his own mother. "Mum?"

Hannah smiled and and approached John's bedside. "Hello son." John felt an immense relief flood through him, deep down inside him, he had been worrying about his mother and if she would survive the Reaper war, and to see her standing at his bedside was the best sight a son could ask for. "It has been a while since we spoke face to face, hasn't it?"

"Five years." John said, a pang of guilt in his voice.

"Try not to let visits go so long next time." Hannah said with a smile "Call's over the comms are one thing, but a meeting in the flesh is by far better."

"Sorry."John quickly apologised "I got so caught up in my duties with the Alliance..." He began.

"No need to explain, you father was the same way." Hannah said, stopping John in his tracks. "You two are both the same, down to the smallest detail. If only he could see you today, he would have been so proud of what you have achieved. Hell, when you get the Star of Terra for your service on Elysium, you were all he could brag about to his Alliance buddies."

John couldn't help but smile, he never really knew his father personally as he was always away on duty, but they both cared for each other immensely. His father had been killed during the assault on Torfan, a small moon that held many pirate strongholds that mostly consisted of Batarian's. John's father was among the first to begin the assault on the pirates stronghold, however he and his squad were killed during the initial assault, the Alliance's intelligence had been off, rather than come up against a band of pirates, they fought against a legion of mercenaries. From what the Alliance had told John and his mother, they fought bravely against all odds and managed to strike a crippling blow for the mercs.

"Something tells me he was watching over you while you performed the impossible." Hannah said with her motherly smile, her eyes were a little watery but she was a strong woman and held back the tears.

"I think you're right." John said as he looked up to the ceiling and thought back to all he had accomplished over the last three years. Chasing Saren all across the Terminus systems and defeating him in the presidium, taking the fight to the Collectors through the Omega 4 relay and surviving the incredibly stacked odds with all his crew and squad. John just felt like some higher power was watching over him and giving him that lasting edge, and he knew it would be his own father. "He was watching over us."

"It would be nice if he were here with us now, I miss him dearly." Hannah said, her smile had faded slightly and had been taken over with a little sorrow.

"Me too." John agreed "But you know how the stubborn bastard is, he wouldn't want us mourning him, just celebrating his decorated career."

Hannah couldn't help but chuckle, she fully agreed with John's words. "Yes, I remember his promotion to Rear-Admiral clearly. He was over the moon, but his stubbornness got him into trouble at times, you know how he is, he would rather be on the battlefield with his own men rather than commanding some Alliance warship."

"I completely understand why, standing up in that CIC while a battle goes on below is a little unnerving." John said "It just makes you think is all, you could be doing so much more down there than away from the battlefield."

Hannah couldn't help but smile "You've grown up, my son. You have come along way from making trouble along the corridors of the stations your father and I served on."

John couldn't help but chuckle as he thought back to his years as a Spacer kid, he remembered this one time when he was on Arcturus Station he accidentally triggered the fire system and most of the station was sprayed with foam. "Yeah, I was a pretty bad kid."

"Of course. Anyway son, I think I will get out of your hair for now, you have a long road of recovery ahead of you." Hannah said, making her way to the door. "Mother's orders, or if that doesn't work for you, I can always pull rank on you."

"Of course you would." John said, managing another smile. Hannah returned his smile with her own and exited the room, leaving John alone with his thoughts. He turned his head and looked out the hull window of the Orizaba, he had a nice view of Vancouver, though much of it was destroyed, it didn't bother John in the slightest, they could rebuild. Now that he was alone with his thoughts, he thought what would be the best way to break the news to everyone that all the Reapers hadn't been destroyed, that some remained in Dark Space, waiting to move in at the hint of trouble.

He couldn't help but sigh loudly, why was anything never easy? Fate seemed to like throwing impossible situations at John and watch him solve them like they were nothing, but many of them weren't a walk in the park. He had to let people die just to give him more time to save the ones that remained, and there was no way in hell he would ever let anything like that happen again. He only hoped the Normandy and her crew would be up for one more tour of the galaxy.


	5. Chapter 4

_Hello all! Well, this one was a doozie to write, it just seemed to write itself, which is surprising as it is the longest chapter so far. I have a lot of things to say about this Chapter, but I don't want to spoil it before you all read it. If you have any queries, just flick us a PM and I'll do my best to answer them._

_Anywho, enough said, lets get reading, and don't forget to leave a review!_

* * *

**Mass Effect: Duty Calls**

**Chapter 4 - Shepard's Ultimatum**

Six weeks passed by so slowly for Shepard, and he was completely bored, even after he had been bought back onboard the Normandy at his own request. Most of his injuries had fully healed, except for his right leg, the bone hadn't healed properly and the cartiledge had been comoletely destroyed, which caused some pain and stiffness, but he was able to get around with help of a walking stick, however he was still being forced to rest, mostly by Ashley and other times by vids from his mother. Shepard's and Ashley's relationship had grown a lot in the short time, they weren't afraid of being a couple around everyone anymore, they openly embraced each others company rather than secret meetings, like they used to do.

Whatever Shepard and Ashley shared was becoming infectious aboard the Normandy, Garrus and Tali were no longer afraid of their own developing relationship, and to Shepard's surprise, Javik was starting to show a slight interest in Liara. He pointed it out to Ashley, but she couldn't see it, every time Shepard caught Javik paying Liara a look, he quickly pointed it out to Ash, but when she looked over, he had gone back to whatever it was that he was doing. Gabby and Ken had managed to keep their developing relationship under the wraps, but many a time Shepard always 'walked in' on the two, both making the usual excuses why they had been so close. Joker had spent much of his downtime in the AI core, nobody knew exactly what it was that he was doing in there, but Shepard had a sneaking suspicion that he was trying to find a way to reactivate EDI. He couldn't blame him for trying, the two cared about each other so much, Shepard knew EDI would be trying to do the same thing if it were the other way around.

Today was no different, Shepard entered the AI core to find Joker playing around in the core, his omni-tool active and scanning to find a solution. Shepard looked over to the small be ch where Eva Coré's body lay, the very same that EDI had used as a mobile platform. Shepard sealed the door behind him and slowly approached Joker, he remembered his promise to himself, that Joker would be the first he told about what had happened up in the crucible. "Joker. What's going on?"

Joker shimmied his way out of the core and gave a nod to Shepard "Hey Commander. I'm just scanning around, seeing if there is a way we can reactivate EDI."

Shepard nodded in understanding, his suspicion was now confirmed "Of course." He paused "Listen Joker, there is something I have to tell you."

"Oh, that sounded serious." Joker said with a grin. He leaned up against the railing and folded his arms. "If you have come to tell me to start on that decaf, I might as well quit now."

Shepard shook his head "It's not anything like that, but it is serious. It's about EDI."

The look on Joker's face faded a little "What about her? If you have come to tell me to stop, then you can..."

"It's not like that." Shepard quickly interjected "I don't mind you trying to reactivate her. It's about something else, something that happened in the crucible."

"Oh, really?" Joker said as surprise came to his face, every time someone had tried speaking to him about it, he shut off and changed topics. "Wouldn't you rather tell Ashley this first?"

Shepard shook his head. "My decision to use the crucible doesn't affect her as much as it does you."

"What happened up there, Commander?" Joker asked, listening intently.

Shepard sighed and begun his explanation. "It's difficult to explain, so I will try and keep this as clear as I can." He paused before he launched into his unplanned speech "Before the Crucible fired, I met with the AI that controls the Reapers."

"The what?" Joker asked in a surprised manner.

"AI." Shepard repeated "It bought me before it and explained how its solution was failing and a new one would be needed. It then gave me three options to chose from, each one bought with it heavy pros and cons. The first I could have chosen was to control the Reapers."

"Control them?" Joker said, still highly surprised "But... then the Illusive Man was right, the Reapers could have been controlled."

"Yes." Shepard said "I would have had full control over all Reapers and their forces."

"Heh, I would have hated to be your old school bully in that scenario." Joker said with a grin, one thing Shepard loved about Joker, he could make light out of anything.

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle "Yes, but in doing that, I would have died, no question about that. But at that point, all the options would have lead to it anyway."

"Yet, here you stand, and with all the dead Reapers out there, you clearly didn't choose to control them." Joker said "What about the other two?"

"Well, this one is a little complicated, but it's what the Catalyst told me." Shepard said "I could have gone with Synthesis. That would have meant joining my energy with the crucibles and releasing that energy to bringing everything to the final stage of its evolutionary line."

"Wait, so we humans aren't there already?" Joker said. "I would have thought we were there already, we have come a long way since monkeys."

"What would have happened, all organic life would have adopted traits of synthetics, and vice versa." Shepard said. "Again, I would have been killed to make it happen."

"Well, I don't see us with flashlights for heads, so I'm guessing you didn't chose that one either." Joker said "So, what about this last choice?"

"The last choice." Shepard said quietly "Was to destroy the Reapers outright."

"Glad you did, I don't think I could have gotten along with Harbinger all that much." Joker said.

"But there is something else as well." Shepard said "The energy released wouldn't target just the Reapers, but all synthetics as well."

The look on Joker's face faded when he finally realised what Shepard had said. "You mean, EDI..." He began.

"Yes. EDI was also targeted by the crucible, as well as the Geth." Shepard said, the guilt weighing heavily in his voice. "I was sure it would kill me as well as I'm partly synthetic due to the Cerberus implants."

"But how did you survive when EDI didn't?" Joker asked suddenly, his tone a bit harsh and full of hurt.

"I honestly don't know, Joker." Shepard said quietly "I was sure I would die up there, but I didn't. If I knew why I was so lucky to survive, I would tell you, but I can't."

"If you were so sure you would die, why not choose another option?" Joker asked, almost yelling at Shepard. He had expected Joker to be this way, and he felt as if he deserved it.

"I weighed each option considerably, but what really made my decision in the end was the Reapers themselves." Shepard said "The Galaxy would be a lot better off without the Reapers around at all, that was what made my decision."

Joker went silent, his face was pale as he thought Shepard's words through, John half expected Joker to give him a walloping across the face, and again he felt it was deserved.

"I'm really sorry, Joker." Shepard said "I really wish EDI could still be with us." Joker's silence was cutting through Shepard worse than if he were yelling at him. "I understand how you feel, to lose someone that meant so much to you."

"No you don't know how it feels!" Joker exploded, catching Shepard off guard. "You still have the person that meant so much to you!"

"Joker, I didn't mean it like that." Shepard quickly apologised "It was the wrong thing to say, I know, but I have lost so many people that meant a lot to me throughout this war. Jenkins, Kaiden, Mordin, Legion, Thane, Anderson, and yes, even EDI."

Joker seemed to sober up slightly, but the anger was still present.

"They were all valuable members of the Normandy, and I will miss them dearly." John said "None of us would be here if not for the sacrifices they gave for this war, and I will never forget their noble selflessness."

It was apparent that Joker wasn't going to say anything else on the matter, so Shepard took that as his dismissal. He limped to the doorway and opened it to exit, he paid Joker one last look, but before he left the AI core, he stopped and turned back around. He limped back over to Joker and pulled out a ring box, he opened it and put it in Joker's hands. "This was a gift EDI gave me back on the Citadel, during our final shore leave. It's a Victory Ring, it is made from metals of the council homeworlds. I think she would have wanted you to have it, I don't deserve it anymore."

Before Joker could say anything, Shepard had already left the AI core. Hearing the door seal shut behind him, Shepard couldn't help but sigh loudly and with aid from his walking stick, he made it through the medical bay and around to the elevator, before he stepped into it however, he turned around to look upon the Normandy's memorial wall. So many names lay upon it, and Shepard remembered their noble sacrifices for the greater good, many he recognised as Cerberus personal that served during their mission against the Collectors. They had been killed defending the Normandy from the boarding Collectors, even though they had been working for Cerberus at the time, they were still valuable allies, and they would be remembered.

Shepard felt a light touch on his shoulder, he turned his head to see who had laid their hand there, it belonged to the very person he wanted to see the most right now. Tali. "Something up, Shepard?"

"I'm just remembering those we lost in the Reaper war." Shepard said quietly, he paid a glance up to EDI's name upon the wall. "I would love nothing right now but to reach up and pry those names from it, and bringing them back. They all deserved so much more than this."

"I agree, but what's done is done, and they will all be remembered." Tali said. "You know, when we heard news from Earth about no survivors being aboard the Citadel, we thought the worst, we even had a plaque made to put on the wall."

"Really?" Shepard asked, surprised Tali had said that.

"Yep. We gave it to Ashley to put up, right above Anderson's name, but she didn't." Tali said. "We let Joker put EDI's name up as she meant so much to him."

Shepard went quiet for a few moments as he lost himself in his thoughts, he probably thought Joker would have approached her about this already, but he needed to ask. "Tali. Do you know if there is any way we can bring EDI back online?" He asked, expecting her answer to be no.

"Joker has already asked me that same question." Tali said simply "It's difficult for me to say right now, maybe I could ask Admiral Xen to look into it, after my father, she knew almost everything about AI."

"But is she in the Sol system? I thought she would have remained behind with Admiral Raan to coordinate the recolonising of Rannoch." Shepard asked.

"Admiral Xen and Admiral Korris joined with Admiral Gerrel's heavy fleet." Tali said. "Admiral Korris joined several other Quarians that fought in London while Xen remained with the fleet and coordinated the Cyberwarfare suites."

Shepard nodded in understanding "Makes sense. Are you able to see if she can report to the Normandy as soon as possible?"

"Sure. I'll make the call now." Tali said, activating her omni-tool to open up comms with the Admiral.

"_Commander._" Came Ashley's voice over the intercom. "_Admiral Hackett would like you to contact him over the QEC._"

"Thanks Ash, I'll be there immediately." Shepard called back, knowing she would be able to hear him over the comms. He left Tali alone with her call and entered the elevator to travel up to the CIC, when he emerged he limped as fast as his bad leg would allow to the QEC and activated comms to the Admiral.

The holographic projection of Admiral Hackett appeared before Shepard "Commander. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly."

Shepard raised his hand to salute the superior officer "Admiral. You wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes, I wanted to inform you of some good news." Admiral Hackett said "The Charon Relay has been fully repaired."

"That's good to hear, sir." Shepard said, surprised a colossal task had been accomplished so quickly. "And what of the Citadel?"

"Construction is still happening, whatever the Crucible did to it wasn't small." Hackett said "A lot of the stranded have made it their temporary home, the station is still fully functional, however one wrong step and you fall into space."

"Sir, with the relay fixed, everyone will return to their homeworlds, won't they?" Shepard asked

"I can see that being the case, they will also want to repair their own systems relays and check on how well those back home are doing." Hackett said "We have had it easy as we have had access to Earth. I might send some teams back with them to help with their own rebuilding as so many helped the rebuilding effort on Earth."

"Sir." Shepard said quickly, not taking in a word Hackett had said "I need to meet with the Council, immediately." He scolded himself and corhimself his words " Not just the council, but a representative of every species available."

"What on earth for, Commander?" Hackett asked.

"It's time they learned the truth of our freedom."

* * *

******-S-**

* * *

Shepard now stood in the conference room that sat between the CIC and War room. The shuttle carrying the representatives of each race had just arrived and were on their way up to him. Dressed in Alliance Blues and putting a fair amount of weight into his waking stick, he patiently waited.

"What are you going to say to them?"

Shepard turned his head to look upon the owner of the voice. "The truth, Ashley."

Ashley's face was full of concern "What's wrong, John?" She could tell something was eating him from the inside out, but she didn't want to press the matter.

"Nothing." John lied "It's fine."

"Don't lie to me, John." Ashley said in a soothing voice "Remember, I'm always here for you." Her hand had left his shoulder and was now cupping his cheek, she gave him a reassuring smile in an effort to cheer him up.

"Thank's Ash." John said, returning the smile. "I'm just... Scared, is all."

"Scared of what?" Ashley asked with more concern in her voice.

"I'll explain later." Shepard said "Right now, I have to talk to the other races about our future."

Ashley nodded in understanding. "Alright. But don't waste too much of your energy with politics. You're still recovering."

"That's fine, with the way they are going to argue I might just fall asleep here." John said simply, but a grin spread across his face.

Ashley couldn't help but chuckle lightly "Wow, that was... bad."

Before he could retort with a follow up, the door from the CIC opened and in flooded representatives from the collective races of the galaxy. Most he recognised, like Wrex, Tevos, Valern, Zaal'Koris, Victus and Hackett, but he didn't recognise the Volus and Batarian.

"Where are the Hanar, Drell, Elcor and Vorcha?" Shepard asked.

"I will be representing on their behalf." The Volus spoke up, taking deep breaths at the beginning and ending of his sentence.

"Very well. Commander Williams, please seal the room." Shepard said, adopting his formal attitude before the various representatives. Ashley nodded and activated her omni-tool and punched in a few keys, and the glass doors sealed shut, keeping any trace of sound from entering or leaving.

"Thank you all for coming." Shepard said "With the Charon Relay now functional, I trust many of you will wish to return to your home worlds and help rebuild your civilisation." Shepard began, he wasn't usually one for speeches, but somehow his words just rolled off his tongue. "But before you do, take one long look at all standing in this room now, aside from Commander Williams and myself, you are the new faces of the United Galactic and Special Forces council."

"The what?" Tevos, the Asari councillor questioned.

"United Galactic and Special Forces council." Shepard repeated "If this war has taught us anything, it is that a united galaxy is the future for all of our races."

"On whose authority was this approved?" The Batarian asked, glancing over at Admiral Hackett.

"My own." Shepard said simply. "We cannot allow our fragile galaxy to fall victim to war once again, it will not survive it."

"What are your terms for this council?" The Volus asked.

"Unity and Equality." Shepard said "While I do not expect a decision from anyone this early on without my reasoning behind it." A waving from outside had caught Shepard's attention, Diana Allers was trying to grab the Commander's attention, her camera was floating a foot behind her. "Good, right on time."

Shepard signalled Ashley to let Allers into the conference room. She went around to where Shepard stood "I got here as fast as I could. What do you need?"

Just before the representatives had arrived onboard the Normandy, he had sent Allers a message over his omni-tool to meet with him in the conference room ASAP. "Allers. I am about to share my story with the representatives, and I was hoping you would be able to film it all."

Allers was confused by the strange request for start, but quickly warmed to the idea "Sure thing, Commander! My camera is ready when you are." She activated her omni-tell and the camera then began recording.

Shepard looked back to the representatives before he began, some, like the Asari councillor had a scandalised look on their faces. "I apologise for this, I only wish to tell you this once more. Reliving it isn't something I wish to do so often."

* * *

** -S-**

* * *

For nearly an hour, Shepard explained everything that had gone on from when he had arrived in London. The looks that spread across the representatives faces and Allers' said just how impressed they were by Shepard's resolve and courage, Ashley had one of admirance but soon changed to shock and surprise when he explained what had happened in the Citadel. When Shepard began to explain about the visit from Leviathan, Hackett had interrupted.

"On their way from leaving the Sol system, they left the plans for the mass relays with the engineers working on it." Hackett said "If not for them, then I highly doubt we could have repaired it."

"How would they have had the plans for the mass relays?" The Batarian representative asked.

"They were the apex race." Shepard said "I'm not surprised they would have them, the Reapers and Catalyst think along the same lines. But I can only guess as to how myself."

"Back to the story, Shepard." Valern said quickly, as was custom with most Salarians. "Why did the Leviathan visit Earth?"

"They came to give me a warning." Shepard said "It is one I wish I didn't have to pass on, but I must." Shepard paused to let his message sink in before he delivered what would be a heavy blow to the other representatives. "The Reapers are still out there."

The mood in the room instantly changed, fear had taken grasp of the representatives throats, even Admiral Hackett who usually had a straight face at the grimmest of news looked as though he had just had the air taken out of his lungs. Allers had covered her mouth with her hand and her eyes almost shot out of their sockets, and Ashley looked utterly scared.

After a minute of silence, Wrex then spoke, but it wasnt fear in his voice, but anger. "But that giant weapon of yours destroyed them all, how could they still be out there?"

"I don't know for certain, but the Leviathan seem adamant that there are still some in Dark Space." Shepard said "And I have no reason to doubt them." He had only said that last part as a reassurance to the representatives, both Ashley and himself knew that the Leviathan had gone to great lengths to keep themselves hidden from the outside world.

"They... They could be lying!" The Volus representative said.

"If you don't trust them, that's fine, but trust me." Shepard said, his voice getting a little louder. "However, we can avoid them coming once more, that is why I asked you all here."

"How?" Victus said "All our forces are a fraction of what they were going into this war, what chance will we have now?"

"The Reapers believe we organics represent chaos, so the best way we can avoid their return is to eliminate chaos all together and bring about a galaxy of peace." Shepard said. "I realise for some of you this may be difficult." He paid Wrex a quick look, he knew many Krogan would want revenge against the Turian's and Salarians. "But we must prevail, for the survival of all species in the galaxy. Can you do this?"

The representatives all fell into silence once more, the news weighing heavily on their shoulders. None more so than the Batarians, his race had suffered the most casualties of any of the species hit, and not to mention none of the other races had gone to their aid. "What if we choose not to join your 'council' and go about our own business?" The Batarian representative asked.

"By all means, do so." Shepard said "But if you and your people start to disrupt the peace, then you will not only be inviting the harvest of your civilisation, but the rest of us in the galaxy."

The Batarian had gone silent, it was clear that he was thinking through what Shepard had said. Before an answer could be heard, Admiral Hackett had cut in front of him. "I know our two races had never got along well, but we recognise a unified threat. We can put aside our differences and help each other through the coming years."

"Very well, Shepard." The Batarian answered "The Batarian race will be apart of your Council."

"As will the Alliance." Hackett said without hesitation.

"You can beat the Krogan won't miss out on an opportunity like this, you have my support Shepard." Wrex said in a boastful manner.

"As will the Turians." Victus said

"On behalf of the Quarian people, I, Zaal'Korris vas Quib Quib accept your offer." Zaal'Korris said respectfully "My people and I owe you a debt we cannot repay lightly."

Shepard gave a nod of respect to the Quarian Admiral, he looked to the other representatives that hasn't spoken yet. "And you?"

"What of the Citadel Council?" Tevos asked "Are we really dismissing thousands of years of galactic politics?"

"I am not dismissing it at all." Shepard said "I am merely putting this one forward as a viable replacement. We need unity and stability if we are to survive, we can't afford to be at each others throat, or just looking out for our own species." He paid Tevos a cold stare, she was well know for putting the Asari ahead of others needs. "We must look to a united galaxy with equal rights for all, no favouritism."

"Very well, Commander, you have made your point." Tevos said "The Asari, and myself will be apart of your council."

"And the Salarians, as well as myself." Valern said.

"As representative for multiple species." The Volus said, while taking deep breaths when able "We accept Commander Shepard's offer."

"Good, we have already made the first step towards Galactic peace." Shepard said, proud that all had agreed to with a lack of evidence, perhaps they were all finally beginning to trust him, after all his years of constant warnings.

"Alright Commander, what is our first step?" Admiral Hackett then asked.

"That is no longer up to me, that is why you are all here. One man can't change the galaxy for the better, it comes down to all of you, and how committed each of you are to change." Shepard said, causing everyone to look at him in confusion.

"This Council will need a leader." Wrex said "And if you won't do it, then who will?"

"You aren't quite looking at the bigger picture, Wrex." Shepard said "Remember my words, Unity and Equality. You are all united to bring about galactic peace, and at the same time, you are all equals, you each have a fair say in matters that come to you all."

"But then if some of us don't agree on what is being bought before us, then we don't all get a fair say in the matter." Zaal'Korris said.

"Vote on it, if a majority goes either way, then that is the course you will follow, with no hard feelings might I add." Shepard said. "You are all leaders in your own right, I don't need to hold your hand any longer, the galaxies fate now rests with all of you."

"And what of the Spectres?" Valern asked quickly.

"They can remain, but I would recommend calling them in, some of their tactics will seriously jeopardise the peace, though some are well within the line." Shepard said "Now, if that is everything, I will leave you all to it, I'm sure you all have a lot to discuss."

The representatives all looked amongst themselves, many wished to relay their fears and concerns to the Commander, but they remained hushed, as he had said, he was no longer there to hold their hands. Dismissing himself, Shepard limped from the conference room, closely followed Ashley. "Allers. You too." Shepard said, looking back to the Alliance journalist. She looked like she wanted to argue against leaving, but the look on the Commander's face suggested otherwise and she resigned to his will and left the conference room. The conference room doors shut once again and the sound of the now talking politicians was shut in.

"Well Commander, what are we going to do now?" Ashley asked Shepard as they entered the CIC.

"Well, I wanted to travel down to Rio, and see how James was going with his N7 training." Shepard said "But we'll have to remain here in the Citadel until the new council leaves."

"How is Vega doing with his training? I heard an old colleague of yours is doing it in your place." Ashley asked as the two entered the elevator.

"Yeah, Colonel van der Wyk. He is one tough son of a bitch I'll give him that." Shepard said with a smile as he thought back to his N7 training days "He was in the same platoon as mine and we both graduated. He is a damn good friend."

"van der Wyk?" Ashley asked "Where have I heard that name before?"

"He is a hero of the Torfan raid." Shepard explained as their elevator arrived at the loft and they both entered their now shared room. "He fought bravely while most of his squad was killed, although I won't deny, some of his actions were... Questionable."

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked as the two sat down on the couch.

"He was a bit ruthless in many of his decisions." Shepard said "He got the job done, no doubt, but he also executed his prisoners. Batarian's that had surrendered to his dwindling squad."

"Why? What would killing unarmed prisoners prove?" Ashley asked.

"I don't know, all I know is that he can hold a fierce grudge. He has always been someone the Alliance went to if they didn't want to get their hands dirty." Shepard said "But outside his military life, he is a great guy."

"Well, sounds like Vega will have his work cut out for him." Ashley said "Think he will make it through?"

"I have no doubt. James is a damned good soldier, and if anyone can breeze through the N7 training, it will be him." Shepard said with a sense of pride in his voice, he wouldn't deny that it had been nothing short of true honour to work with a soldier like him.

"I think so too." Ashley said, nodding her head in agreement. After a moment of silence, a funny little smile spread across Ashley's face and Shepard was intrigued as to what had caused it.

"What are you smiling about?" Shepard couldn't help but ask.

"I've got a question for you, John." Ashley asked, the smile still on her face, but now she was staring deeply into his eyes. "What is the one mission you haven't been able to accomplish over the last three years?"

Shepard went silent as he racked his brains, just what was Ashley taking about? "Uhh... Well, we defeated Sovereign, so that isn't it, I destroyed the Collector base, so that can't be it either." He thought out loud in a mock tone. "I don't know, I think I have done everything there is to do."

Ashley raised her brow "Oh really? And when was the last time you took your girl out on a proper date?"

Shepard's face then changed to one of realisation, in all the years the two had been together, they had not once been on a proper date. "What about the presidium? We had lunch at that café?"

"That doesn't really count." Ashley said, her smile changing to a grin "We weren't back together then, we got back together during, but that's besides the point."

"Wait, so we weren't together during my mission against the Collectors?" Shepard asked, he was going somewhere with this, but he wanted to see if Ashley would take him seriously.

"Well, not really." Ashley said, getting a little uncomfortable going down this line of conversation "You were dead for two years, and then suddenly you weren't, and you were working for Cerberus."

"With, Cerberus." Shepard corrected her. "We were working towards stopping the collectors, working for them means something completely different."

"That's what I meant." Ashley said "Anyway, when I saw you again, I didn't know what to think, would this mean our relationship could resume? But then those two Cerberus operatives came into the picture, and I wasn't sure where your priorities lay."

Shepard remembered how he had met Ashley on Horizon, the two were reconciling, but were interrupted by Miranda and Jacob. "Yeah, they were then, but are no longer. They cut their ties with Ceberus, you saw how their abandonment nearly killed them in the end." He was mentioning the incidents on Gellix with the ex-Cerberus scientists and Horizon where Miranda saved her sister from her father again. "Even when they were Cerberus, I trusted them both with my life, and here I am still." He wasn't at all angry, but he was quite defensive about his former crew, they had served him invaluably and he would defend their honour if he had to.

"I know, John. That trust and loyalty, are two of the many reason I fell in love with you." Ashley said, moving along the couch so she could be closer to Shepard.

"You know, there is something funny about all this." Shepard said as he wrapped an arm over Ashley's shoulders when she drew near.

"Oh? And what might that be?" Ashley asked with curiosity.

"If we weren't together then, I could have taken up Jack's offer of 'casual' sex." Shepard said in a mock serious tone.

Ashley had a scandalised look and swiftly slapped him across the chest, and Shepard couldn't help but laugh. "What's so funny?" Ashley asked sharply.

"I was only joking." Shepard said with a grin, but his face lightened up before his next comment "Besides, even if we weren't together then, I still loved you, and I would never dream of being with another woman, or man for that matter."

Ashley's scandalised look faded instantly and was taken over by confusion."Man?"

"Cortez tried picking me up when we were having drinks in Purgatory." Shepard said.

"Wait a minute, Cortez is..." Ashley asked with a surprised look on her face. "Wow. I honestly would never have picked up on that, but it explains why I caught him checking Vega out whenever he was doing crunches."

"He had a husband once, he was taken by the Collectors during an attack on Ferris Fields." Shepard said.

"Really?" Ashley said with a hint of remorse spreading across her face.

"Yeah. It's quite a tragic story. His name was Robert, and during the Collector escape, he managed to escape." Shepard said, recalling the story he had heard from his teary eyes shuttle pilot. "Instead of continuing to escape, he called Steve, warning him about the attack and asking him to not let him be an anchor and to move on with his life."

"That's so... sweet. Heartbreaking, but sweet." Ashley said, looking as though she might cry herself.

"I know what you mean, I really felt sorry for him." Shepard said "But he did move on in the end, he left a recording of his husband at the memorial wall, the same one where you went to comfort Sarah."

"That's good for him, I hope he finds happiness with someone else." Ashley said, feeling herself lightening up after hearing the story.

"Yeah, me too." Shepard said, he moved his hand to take ahold of one of her own "I'll be honest here Ash, if something were to happen to you, I don't think I could ever move on."

"Come on, John." Ashley said, touched by his words. "I wouldn't want you to be unhappy for the rest of your life, if I died, I really would want you to move on, woman or man."

Shepard couldn't help but smile, once again, his love for Ashley was reinforced by her selflessness. "If that were the case, I would never forget about you. I have never loved another like I have with you, Ashley Williams, and I never will stop loving you."

Ashley's face broke into a sweet and touched smile "Dammit, how do you keep doing that?" She asked as she felt her face moving closer to his.

"Doing what?" Shepard asked, feeling her vibe and moving his own face closer to hers

"Keep drawing me in like this." Ashley said in a soft whisper, as their faces were inches away from each other. Her lips mets with Shepard's in a soft embrace, her hand softly moved up his arm, past his shoulder and rested on his neck, firmly gripping it almost as if she were trying to keep their passionate kiss going on forever. She felt as her body was now drawing nearer to his, the willingness of feel the warmth of his body rising in her chest, her other hand was already moving its way up his body, and her leg was already sliding across his lap as she made to straddle his hips. Their kisses were now becoming more fierce as the two were now basking in each others fragrance, Shepard's hands gliding up her thighs and coming to rest on her hips.

However, their intimate moment was not meant to be, before it could develop further, a message came in over the lofts intercom. "_Commander. Joker said he would like to meet you down in the bar._"

Shepard and Ashley's lips separated as they listened to the message. This reminded him of the time Joker had interrupted him and Ashley while they were grounded in the old Normandy SR-1. "Thanks Traynor." Shepard replied with a tone of annoyance in his voice. He then looked to Ashley with loving eyes "I guess we'll have to finish this later. Say, after I have taken my beautiful woman out for a night on the Silverun Strip?" Miraculously, the Silverun Strip had survived the damaging effects around the Citadel, and had recently gone back to blooming business, it was a great place for everyone to unwind after long and tedious days of rebuilding the giant space station and Earth.

"Shepard, are you asking me out on a date?" Ashley asked, a smug grin spread across her face.

"Yes. Yes I am." Shepard said, a humoured smile at seeing her smug look. "Then afterwards, a nice night in a warm and comfortable bed. My apartment is still standing, so now we don't have to worry about driving home."

Ashley couldn't help but turn her smug look into a smile. "John! What kind of a girl do you think I am?" She said, the smile not leaving her face.

"You're my girl." Shepard said, still gazing lovingly into her eyes. "And I intend to keep it that way."

Ashley's was deeply touched by Shepard's words, the best way she could show how much they meant to her was another kiss on the lips, though this was just a short one, it still lingered on both their lips "You better go see Joker now, otherwise I won't be able to wait until later to get you in that bed."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle. "Alright. But be ready when I get back."

"Sure thing, Skipper." Ashley said with a grin, she slid off his lap and stood up, offering her hand to Shepard who took it with gratitude and was helped to stand up, he wouldn't admit it, but his still injured leg made getting up from the couch a pain.

Shepard grabbed his walking stick and made to the loft door, Ashley still following. Before he exited, he wrapped his spare arm around her waist and pulled her against him. "I love you, Ash."

Ashley was taken by surprise at Shepard's sudden move, but still went along with it anyway, she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you too, John." She placed another kiss on his lips, letting the quick contact envelop the both of them. As quickly as it had happened, the two separated and Shepard entered the elevator, but before the door had closed, he gave Ashley a quick wink.

* * *

******-S-**

* * *

Joker wasn't sure just how much time had passed since Shepard had confronted him in the AI core about EDI. Right now, he found himself in a similar situation that Ashley had been in almost two months ago, drinking himself under the table, though things were different this time around, he still held his first drink in his hand. He couldn't help but groan and set it down, at the same time, he picked up the open ring box that had been sitting on the bar, staring up at Joker. He was surprised that EDI had given something like this to Shepard, while he wouldn't deny it was a nice gift, but a diamond ring? What was it Shepard said she called it, a Victory ring?

Maybe it was just a confidence booster, implying the name itself would be reflected in Shepard's results of the Reaper war. It was a nice thought, he wouldn't deny, and he was grateful Shepard had given it to him as a remembrance, but he had his memories of EDI that would keep him going. He heard as the door opened behind him, but didn't turn to acknowledge whoever had just entered, instead he continued to look at the ring. "I'm glad you like it."

Shepard had entered the portside deck, and had limped his way around to the bar, standing in front of him. "Traynor said you wanted to speak to me?" He asked as he poured himself a glass of whatever it was Joker had opened, it turned out to be a nice Scotch.

"Yeah, I... wanted to give this back to you." Joker said, as he closed the ring box and put it back on the bar, sliding it across to Shepard.

"I gave it to you, so you could remember EDI, Joker." Shepard said, surprised he was rejecting such a gift from EDI.

"I appreciate it, Commander, I really do." Joker said, now taking ahold of his glass and swirling its contents around I the glass. "But I don't need something like that to remember EDI. The memories of our time together are more than enough."

Shepard looked down at the little black ring box. "That's good to hear, Joker."

Joker nodded, he was silent for a moment as he tried to brew up the courage to find his next words "Commander. I want to apologise for what I said earlier."

"Don't worry about it, Joker." Shepard said "I should be apologising to you, I threw so much at you at once and it wasn't fair on you."

"Please Commander, I said some things that I didn't really mean." Joker said "I can only imagine how hard your decision had been, and I knew you were thinking of the Galaxies best interest when you activated the Crucible."

"The hardest decision I've ever had to make." Shepard said in a quiet voice. "I'll be honest with you, an idea of not wanting to use the Crucible flashed across my mind, the heavy consequences from each were just too much."

"In either case, I'm glad it was you that made the decision that day." Joker said "I don't think I would have trusted anyone else with a giant weapon like that."

"Thanks Joker." Shepard said. He picked up his glass off scotch and held it in a toasting manner "To EDI. May she find peace wherever she is right now."

"To EDI." Joker said, picking up his own glass and toasting with Shepard. After what felt like hours of sitting in this bar, Joker finally drained his first glass of scotch, it was quite smoky and glided down his throat with ease. "Wow, this stuff isn't all that bad."

"Yeah, it's not bad at all." Shepard said, grabbing the bottle to look it over. "I don't believe it, this is a late 21st Century Royal Lochnagar. No wonder it tastes so good."

"21st Century? How did we get something this rare?" Joker asked, taking the bottle from Shepard and looking it over.

"I don't know, but whoever they were, I could almost kiss them." Shepard joked.

"Don't let Ash hear you say that, she might get jealous." Joker said "Unless she was the one that bought it, in which case she'll turn into a giddy school girl."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle lightly, something he rarely did whenever Joker made one of his corny jokes, but today he was in very high spirits. "Point made, Joker. How about another glass before we return to our duties?"

"I'm game." Joker said, pouring another glass for Shepard and himself, this time he had poured himself and Shepard a double.

"You trying to get me drunk, Joker?" Shepard asked with a grin at the more amount of liquor in his glass.

"Me? Nah, I'm just trying to get our fill before Donnelly smells it out and drinks the rest of it." Joker said, putting the bottle back on the bar and recorking it.

"Good call." Shepard said, taking his glass and holding it in front of Joker. "Cheers."

"Cheers, Commander." Joker said, taking his own glass and touching Shepard's with a small tinkle of glass on glass. He took a sip of the scotch and felt as it slid down his throat. "So, this Victory ring, did EDI want to marry you or something?"

"You know, I asked her the exact same thing when she showed it to me." Shepard said, setting his own glass down after a hearty sip. "Funnily enough, moments later she almost bought you a skycar."

"A what?" Joker asked in surprise.

"If I hadn't have stopped her, well, lets just say an Alliance pay-check wouldn't have covered it." Shepard said "Not even close to covering it. You would have still been paying it off long after you were dead."

"Ugh, now I understand why men don't ever let their wives or girlfriends take their credit chit." Joker said. "Thanks for the save."

"Anytime." Shepard said, he looked down at the Victory ring again, he really appreciated that EDI had given it to him, a part of him wondered how much it had cost Joker as it was him that effectively payed for it.

"You know, that Victory ring would look good on Ashley's finger." Joker suddenly said, catching Shepard off guard.

"What?" Shepard said in surprise, looking up from the ring to Joker.

"You know." Joker said as he held up his left hand and pointed to its ring finger "It's as good as any engagement ring out there."

Shepard went silent at Jokers idea of a joke, but it was something that had been stirring in his head for a while now, he really loved Ashley with all his heart and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. There was no other woman out there that he loved as much as her, maybe his mother but that was besides the point. "You know what, I think you're right."

Joker was caught off guard by Shepard's response, thinking he might retort with plenty of excuses. "Uhh, you know I was joking, right?"

"I know you were." Shepard said, picking up the ring box and shutting it. "But I'm serious."

"Wow, Ashley is going to be... Well I don't know, but either way this bottle will be here if you want to celebrate or drown your sorrows." Joker said.

"Thanks Joker." Shepard said, slipping the box into his pocket, he quickly drained the last of his scotch then limped his way from behind the bar and made to the door.

"Wait, Commander." Joker said before he could exit. Shepard turned to look back at Joker who was now standing. As a sign of respect, he saluted Shepard. "Good luck Commander. I hope you two find happiness."

Shepard couldn't help but smile, turned to face Joker and saluted him as well. "Thanks Joker, and if you tell anyone, especially Ash, I'll have you court marshalled."

"Aye aye, sir. My lips are sealed." Joker said, not paying Shepard's threat much notice.

Shepard nodded and lowered his arm, he left the observation deck and made to the elevator, he could feel the ring box in his pocket, it was constantly reminding him that his future would be decided with the very ring that lay inside. Good or bad, he would find out later.


	6. Chapter 5

_Holy mother fucking shit, this was a long write! But here it is, the eagerly awaited fifth chapter, and over 10,000 words? Well, it was definitely a long write, even though now I've said it twice..._

_Anywho, moving on. Before reading, thanks for some of the PMs that have come my way, good to know I have some fans with an interest in my work. Though they haven't all been the best, just a reminder that this fic is also a romance fic and I like to expand more and more upon Shepard and Ashley's relationship, as this Chapter will prove. And for the smartass out there (You know who you are.) yes there is a plot, but right now I'm setting in a 'happily ever after?' piece so please be patient and see the results unfold. Action will be coming soon, I promise._

_Now, a heads up, there is a bit of... Intimacy in this fic, so best get the kiddies out of the room unless you want to have the birds and bees talk early. But just know that you read this at your own risk etc etc. _

_Now, enjoy and don't forget to leave a nice review, and keep those PMs coming if you want to know more._

_WAIT! Just another heads up, I don't think I mentioned it earlier, but this Shepard is a Vanguard, so he has some biotic abilities. He basically like mine in my current play through, I've always been a soldier fan and whatnot, but found I loved the Vanguard class during ME2 and ME3. Not so keen during the first ME, but that's just me. Anywho, enjoy._

* * *

**Mass Effect: Duty Calls**

**Chapter 5 - Date Night**

Ashley stood in the shower, letting the hot water soak into her skin, in the short time the two had been reunited, Ashley had moved from the crews bunks and was now living in Shepard's quarters with him. She had come to love this shower, there wasn't a time limit like the crew showers for one, and the pressure was perfect, not like the dribble that poured from the crews ones. She shut the shower off soon after and then began to dry herself, she was finally going out on a date with Shepard "_Took him long enough to ask me out on one._" She thought to herself. She wasn't sure just what he would take her to do, but as long as the two got to spend as much time as possible together, she didn't care.

Now came the hard part in her opinion, what to wear. Her eyes fell to the blue cocktail dress she had previously worn before to Elijah Kahn's casino, she remembered how Shepard's eyes had devoured her basking beauty when he saw her in it for the first time, and she wanted to experience that very same look again. Her eyes came to rest on a different cocktail dress, a white strapless one that would cling tightly around the bust, it had a nice black stripe that ran around beneath the bust and enhancing the plainness of the simple dress. Unlike all her others however, it's was longer in length, stopping below the knees rather than above, it would be perfect to garner that stare that she was now craving.

She heard the loft door open outside the bathroom, Shepard must have returned from his meeting with Joker, she wondered what it was about, perhaps it was something to do with EDI, Joker hadn't been the same since she went offline. Either way, she was glad he was back "Don't come in!" She called out "I'm still getting dressed!"

"And that is supposed to discourage me from coming in?" Shepard replied with humour present in his voice.

Ashley couldn't help as a girly giggle escaped her lips, it reminded her of something she would hear from a teenage girl. "Nice try Shepard, but I locked the door."

"It's fine, I need to get changed anyway." Shepard said as he limped his way to his wardrobe.

"Any idea where you'll be taking us tonight?" Ashley asked as she pulled her dress on with a little difficulty, it was quite a tight fit.

"Not sure." Shepard said, looking over his clothes, he really had only six sets of clothing, his standard Alliance uniform, the Alliance dress blues he currently wore, a type of colonist outift, a heavy version of the Alliance uniform, his leather N7 jacket and a suit he had procured for his infiltration into Elijah Kahn's casino. In the end, he chose the suit, feeling it would be tidier. "A nice restaurant for a start, I'm getting sick of eating nothing but military grade rations."

"I'm glad you suggested it." Ashley said, grunting slightly as she tried to pull her dress on properly. "If you hadn't, I would have been searching for the nearest cheeseburger stand."

"Are you alright in there?" Shepard asked as he began stripping off his uniform. "It sounds like you're... well, I won't say."

"Just fine." Ashley said, finally getting the dress to sit perfectly where it needed to be, after that tight squeeze, it actually felt comfortable, it was still tight that it showed every curve on Ashley's body, but still comfortable. She looked in the mirror to see how it fit, and she liked what she saw, there was no way to avoid those intoxicating eyes of Shepard's now. "How are you doing? I'm almost ready."

"Fine, just throwing something on now." Shepard said, now beginning to put on his suit, one piece at a time.

Ashley smiled, she was sure he would be putting on that black suit of his, but she didn't mind, in fact she liked it on him. She now began to play around with a little makeup, she applied a little blush, mascara and lip gloss and she was set, she liked how it made the features of her face stand out. Satisfied that she was now looking her best for Shepard, she slipped into a pair of black high heels and made a quick adjustment to her hair, letting it all flow over her right shoulder, and quickly spraying a little perfume Traynor had bought for her. There was one final thing, she opened a small box she had sitting by the sink and pulled out a necklace, it wasn't just any necklace, but to her it was her most prized possession. It was a black waxed cord, with a christian cross made out of greenstone, it was also a good luck charm for Ashley, and she always wore it under her armour, it had been a gift from her father before he died. She smiled and tied it up around her neck, it was nice, plain and simple, just how she liked it.

Now she was ready to face Shepard, she only hoped he would like how she looked, it mattered greatly to her because she just couldn't resist those devouring eyes when he stared at her. She unlocked the bathroom door and it automatically opened, she took some cautious steps out, she wasn't quite used to high heels. She emerged from behind Shepard's large screen of collectibles to find his back was facing her, it seemed apparent that he was making the final adjustments to his own suit. She cleared her throat hoping to get his attention, and as she expected he turned around.

She didn't get the eyes she wanted to see, she got so much more. The apparent look of frustration that was on Shepard's face instantly melted away when he first caught a glimpse of Ashley, she looked absolutely beautiful. No longer the soldier covered in blood, sweat and dirt that he was used to seeing, but she was beauty reincarnated. He couldn't help but just stare in adoration, if he wasn't already madly in love with her, this would have more than made that leap over the edge. "Ashley, I... You look absolutely beautiful." He said in a tone sincerest, even his voice was full of adoration.

Ashley couldn't help as a sweet smile spread across her lips, further radiating her beauty to Shepard "Thanks. You don't look half had yourself." She said, nodding to his half buttoned shirt.

Shepard looked down at his scruffy self. "Sorry. The buttons are just a little bit annoying on these, it's a good thing I don't wear them often. As far as I'm concerned, there are only two more reasons to wear a suit."

Ashley's smiled changed to a humoured one, she made her way over to Shepard to help him with the buttons. She had just started to thread the first through its hole when she asked "And what would those two reasons be?"

Shepard looked down at her while she did the last of his buttons up. "At my funeral." He began "And my wedding."

Ashley felt her heart skip a beat at the mention of wedding, she had never imagined herself getting tied down with marriage before, and why was he bringing it up now? Was he hinting at something? "Your wedding, huh? I'd never have pictured the great Commander Shepard tied down like that." She said, trying to keep her cool as she threaded the last button through.

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm not going to be serving in the Alliance all my life you know." He said simply "To be honest, I'm not sure how much longer I'll remain with the Alliance now."

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked, now brushing his suit lightly to get rid of any dust and flatten the creases.

"The past two years have been the most trying of my life." Shepard said, now that the both of them were ready, he grabbed his walking stick and held out his arm for Ashley, which she took. "I was bought back from the dead, I fought the collectors, and I even bought the Reaper threat to a stand still. I'm not sure how much longer I'll have to live, but I want to enjoy every day as if it was my last."

"And if you did die the next day, we'll just get that Miranda woman to rebuild you." Ashley said, making the joke, but her look faded when she saw how serious his face looked.

"I'll be honest Ash, if I did die tomorrow for whatever reason, I don't think that I would want to be bought back again." Shepard admitted "I've lived a good life, and I now know the galaxy will see a bright future of peace ahead of it. There wouldn't be any reason for me to live anyway, I would slowly become an expendable asset to the Alliance and Council." He had said those words without thinking first, when he saw the hurt look coming to Ashley's face, he quickly changed his words "Well, actually there is one reason for me to live, the only reason worth living anymore. You."

Ashley's hurt look faded and was replaced with her usual smile "You soppy romantic, I can't even be mad at you." She said as the two entered the elevator.

"It's all part of my charm, Williams." Shepard said with a humoured grin on his face. He was about to activate the holographic interface and descend to the shuttle bay, but something had hit him first. "Dammit, I forgot something."

"What?" Ashley asked

"Well, my XO and I are leaving the Normandy. She needs to be left in good hands." Shepard said, leaving the elevator to right the wrong.

"Or, you could give the crew shore leave until tomorrow afternoon?" Ashley suggested "Then neither of us will have any worries, unless Cerberus has another clone hiding out there somewhere."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle at Ashley's joke "Dealing with one was more than enough, I just hope this next one is a little nicer."

Ashley smiled at Shepard's retort "I prefer the real deal." She stepped forward and placed a quick kiss on Shepard's lips. "Anyway, while you address the crew, I'll head down and summon a cab for us."

Shepard couldn't help but smile "Ash, what would I ever do without you." Ashley stepped back into the elevator and gave him a cute smile accompanied by a wink as the elevator doors shut. He couldn't help but feel his smile widen more, that smile of hers always reminded him just how much he loved her.

He stepped back into his cabin and approached his private terminal, activating the comm to Traynor. "Traynor. I need you to advise the Normandy crew they are all on white leave until 1700 hours tomorrow. Can you do that for me?"

"_Of course, Commander._" Came the heavily British accent that belonged to Specialist Traynor.

Satisfied that that now left him with a clear schedule, he made to the door again, however he stopped himself, he turned and looked back to his dress blues that lay on the bed after he failed to store them away. He limped his way down to the bed and picked up his coat, he reached inside and pulled out the little ring box, inside lay the Victory ring, he opened it and stared down at its sparkling beauty. This small object would be the key to his happiness, a life with the woman he moved so dearly, but was now a right time? Was it too soon to ask such a big question? He pulled the ring from its box and looked at it even more closely, it really was a nice design, he was sure the jeweller would be proud of their work. He slipped the ring into his top pocket, he wasn't sure if he would need it tonight, but if the opportunity presented itself, he wasn't going to miss it.

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

Shepard emerged from the cab with a bit of difficulty, his unhealed knee injury made manoeuvring difficult, but he did his best to ignore it, after all, it was only pain. He held a hand out for Ashley who took it with thanks and stepped out of the cab, but she didn't let his hand go. "So, where to first?"

"Firstly, I am going to wine and dine my pretty lady, afterwards we'll see where the night takes us." Shepard said, looking around the Silverun strip, for obvious reasons it wasn't as busy as it had been in the past, the few all stared at the both of them when they had emerged, and it wasn't difficult to see why. "Ash, I think we may have overdressed a little bit."

"Are you kidding? If anyone has the right to overdress, it's you." Ashley said "My saviour of the galaxy, you."

"Yeah? And what is your excuse?" Shepard retorted smartly.

"Well, I'm your date aren't I?" Ashley said, looking at him with a grin "I have to be looking my best."

Shepard couldn't help but laugh which gathered more stares from bystanders, but he didn't care "Touché Williams, Touché."

"Alright Skipper, where are we going first?" Ashley asked, a humoured grin on her face.

Shepard began to look around, much of the strip wasn't functional to say the least, many of the neon lights had blown and it made the usually live area feel quite empty, which it already was. The arena was shut down and the castle arcade was closed, the silver coast casino seemed to be in business, but Shepard held a bad grudge for the place as he had lost a lot of credits from gambling in there too often. Many other stores were closed and the others that were open weren't restaurants or cafés. "I really should have planned ahead and seen what was open first." Shepard said with a groan.

Ashley went quiet, she honestly didn't mind what the two of them did, she just wanted to enjoy his company. "Why don't we head up to the apartment? If there is food up there then we can cook ourselves a nice meal."

Shepard's surprised look at Ashley's initiative quickly faded into an appreciative smile "Your quick thinking never ceases to amaze me. A nice home cooked meal, just the two of us."

Ashley returned his smile "Lead the way."

Instead of walking down the Silverun strip like Shepard had planned, he instead went to the Tiberius Towers, where his apartment that Anderson had very generously given to him during his previous shore leave on the Citadel. That happened to be at the same time as Shepard and his crew discovered that Shepard had a clone, made during Shepard's reconstruction during the Lazarus project in case the real Shepard needed a new organ or limb. The clone had been taken care of in the end, in a moment of cold blood, the real Shepard kicked the clone in the face and knocked him from the Normandy's shuttle bay in which he had been clinging onto the bay door.

Shepard had lead Ashley through the tower lobby to the elevator and punched in his code that would take him to his personal apartment. "You should think of moving some of your stuff to the apartment." Shepard said suddenly, catching Ashley off guard.

"Why would you say something like that, John?" Ashley asked, unable to mask the surprise in her voice.

"Well, it's now your apartment as well." Shepard said "Might as well start treating it like home."

"So... Are you basically asking me to move in?" Ashley asked as the elevator arrived at the apartment.

"Well, we are already living together on the Normandy, this is basically the same principle." Shepard said, leading Ashley into the living room. "We just have more room to do whatever we want, and from now on, it will be our apartment." He sat down on one of the couches and took the chance to look around, the apartment was exactly as it was when he last visited shortly before the assault on the Illusive Mans base, in fact it felt too clean.

Ashley took a seat by Shepard and slipped an arm around his waist while he put an arm around her shoulders "If you're sure, then I'd love to. I think it will be nice to finally call a place 'home'."

"You know what they say, Ash. Home is where the heart is, so as long as you were with me, I could handle a crummy little flat down in the wards any day." Shepard said with a grin in his face.

"I'd rather live in the Normandy's loft than that. Even after I retired, I'd just pay the Alliance rent or something." Ashley replied, with a symmetrical grin.

Shepard couldn't help but laugh "Alright then, Miss Williams, shall we see about our dinner arrangements?"

"You bet." Ashley said, quickly leaping to her feet "I hope you can cook, I'm terrible. They cover that in N7 training?"

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle as he slowly got to his feet. "Just the bare minimum, rations and that was it."

"Well, as long as neither of us burns down the apartment, I think we can call it a success." Ashley said, slipping out of her heels and walking into the kitchen. She began to open cupboards to see what there was the two of them could make, oddly enough, the cupboards were full off food and cooking materials. "Well, we're definitely well stocked, aren't we?"

Shepard had joined Ashley in the kitchen and was also looking through the cupboards, now something was definitely amiss, he knew his stores were near empty from his last visit, was somebody else using the apartment? He shut the cupboards and looked around for something amiss.

"Hey John?" Ashley said, picking up a small object from the kitchen bar "What's this?"

Shepard turned his attention to what Ashley had just picked up, it appeared to be a graybox of sorts, he activated his omni-tool and scanned the device, he was right but whose it was surprised him. "This is Keiji's graybox."

"Who is Keiji?" Ashley asked.

"He was a master of thievery and decryption, he and Kasumi were close." Shepard said "And how did it get here?"

"Kasumi? That thief that helped you to assault the Collector base?" Ashley asked, she had heard stories about her from Garrus and Joker, but had only seen glimpses of her.

"The same." Shepard replied. He noticed as a vid notification appeared on his omni-tool, he opened it and was surprised to see the face of Kasumi.

"_Hey Shep. As you have probably guessed, this is Keiji's graybox, and before you say anything, no I didn't forget it, I left it there on purpose for you to find. Don't worry, I programmed it so only your omni-tool could access the information inside, so now I know it won't fall into the wrong hands. Anyway, I left this here for a couple of reasons, the first I wanted to let you know I've been staying in your apartment temporarily while things settle back down from the war, after that I'll be back in business._"

"Of course." Shepard muttered to himself, he continued to listen to Kasumi's message to him.

"_As I'm usually a clean liver, I couldn't stand the mess it was in so I did a bit of cleaning._"

"Please tell me she didn't take any of my stuff." Shepard muttered to himself again.

"Our stuff, now." Ashley corrected him.

"Right, that's exactly what I meant." Shepard said quickly, he wen back to Kasumi's message.

"_And I got some food from the other apartments in this tower, it's not like they will be needing it any time soon, and they can always go out and get some more._"

"This explains a lot." Ashley said out loud "And you were worried." She nudged him with her elbow playfully.

"I wasn't worried, just confused." Shepard said in clarification. He wen silent and listened to the rest of Kasumi's message.

"_The second, I wanted to thank you for everything. Helping me recover Keiji's graybox, protecting me in the Collector base, you know, all that stuff. I thought about what you said a few months back, about how Keiji wouldn't want me plugged into his graybox all the time, and you were right. Reliving the memories inside of it are great, but I have the real things up here." Kasumi reached up and tapped her temple with her index finger. "He would want me to move on, and I will, but I'll never forget him. Once this message stops playing for you Shep, all the data inside will be erased, our memories, the information about the Alliance black ops raid, everything._"

"Raid?" Ashley asked.

"I'll explain in a moment." Shepard replied as the message was still playing.

"_I won't need it anymore so it doesn't matter. Anyway, that's about all I need to say, I hope we see each other again some day Shep, if you need me for anything, just send me a message over the extranet. Kasumi, out._"

Kasumi's message stopped playing and Shepard's omni-tool shut down, he quickly reactivated it and tried to access the graybox, but the whole thing was empty. He couldn't help but smile, Kasumi had really let go of the ghosts of her past.

Ashley now stood before him, her arms crossed with an eyebrow raised, Shepard knew this look all too well, it was her 'answer my questions or suffer' look. "Alright, I'm thinking now is a good time for an explanation."

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

Over the next hour, Shepard explained to Ashley how he had gathered his crew for the Collector assault and gained their loyalty, all the while the two were self teaching themselves how to cook from vids and recipes from the extranet.

"Wait, so you somehow managed to gain Zaeed's loyalty even after you ruined his chances of killing that Blue Suns leader?" Ashley asked, now preparing a salad "How? He sounded pretty pissed that you let him escape."

Shepard was busy stirring what appeared to be a mushroom sauce in a pot over the stove, which was now steaming and filling the kitchen with a pleasant aroma. His sleeves rolled up to avoid getting any on them. "He had unloaded his entire rifle at the gunship, he ejected the used heat sink onto this pool of fuel and turned the rifle on me."

"And he didn't shoot? What stopped him?" Ashley asked, now adding sliced tomatoes and grated cheese to the salad.

"He wanted to, but I already had my pistol out and pointing at his face." Shepard explained "I tried talking him down from it, then that heat sink ignited the fuel and the flames caused a nearby tank to exploded and knock down this beam, it fell right on top of Zaeed."

"First you deny his revenge, then he gets trapped under a beam? Man, that just wasn't his day." Ashley couldn't help but comment as she slipped a piece of tomato in her mouth. "How did you turn it around?"

"Well, I still had my pistol, so, I sort of threatened him by pointing it right at his face again." Shepard said, still continuing to stir the pot of hit mushroom sauce so it wouldn't stick to the pot. "Fortunately he was a smart man and realised that we needed to work together, and he could put his own problems aside. As a sign of good faith, I flipped my pistol around and held it out to him, he didn't take it fortunately otherwise he might have shot me with it."

"Seriously? John, you just keep pulling off the impossible, don't you." Ashley said.

"Of course I do, I remember changing your mind about the fraternisation protocols you slapped me with back during our time in the SR-1." Shepard said with a grin.

"Hey, that was my choice." Ashley said, humoured by Shepard's apparent joke "And I don't regret it one bit, look where we are now."

"Madly in love with each other and learning to cook together?" Shepard said, with a humoured smile. "Yeah, I don't think my past self would have expected this in my future. But you're right, I don't have any regrets either. By the way, you still owe me that extra twenty push-ups."

Ashley couldn't help but giggle a little "John Shepard, the romantic and pervert. But you're right, and I'll gladly do those push-ups for you later, I'll just have to let our dinner settle first."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle himself. "Seriously Ashley, I love you so god damned much right now, and I don't think I'll ever stop loving you so." He said spontaneously.

Ashley couldn't help but smile, she leaned over and placed a kiss on his lips "I'll always love you too, John."

Shepard couldn't help but smile back. "Can you stir this for a moment, I just need to duck over to the bar and grab something."

"Sure." Ashley nodded, taking Shepard's place in stirring the pot of mushroom sauce.

Shepard limped over to his bar and looked for any sign of wine, after the party he held during their last shore leave his stocks had been mostly cleared out. He knelt down with some difficulty and. checked beneath the bar for any signs, and when he opened the first cupboard he found it was fully stocked. This had to be Kasumi's doing, this was definitely unlike her, the clean apartment and the kitchen stocked was really out of her usual character, and now the bar? Shepard made a mental note to thank Kasumi in any way he could. He happened across an expensive bottle of Thessian red wine and smiled, the Asari knew how to make a good wine, and the more expensive the better it was, now he really owed Kasumi a lot. He stood back up and took two wine glasses and made his way back into the kitchen where another pot on the stove was boiling and the kid rattling. "That pasta is ready." Shepard said as he put the bottle and two glasses on the kitchen bar.

"Okay, so now we strain the hot water out of it, then add it to the sauce along with the cook chicken." Ashley said, looking over the short recipe on her omni-tool.

"Right, I'll do that." Shepard said, limping around to Ashley's side and taking the pot off the element. He grabbed a colander then emptied the pot of boiling water and pasta into it, the pasta remaining while the boiling water dripped into the sink. He left it to drain while he took out a bowl of pre-cooked chicken from the fridge and set it beside Ashley. "I hope this all tastes good." Shepard couldn't help but say, nervous to see if their cooking would turn out edible.

"We followed the recipe and instructions, if it tastes bad then we blame whichever idiot made this recipe." Ashley said, hoping with all her might that it turned out alright.

"Okay, I'll add the pasta and chicken now." Shepard said. He took the colander and emptied the pasta into the sauce, closely followed by the chicken. He watched as Ashley thoroughly stirred the contents in together. "Now we turn the element to half and let it cook itself for ten minutes."

Ashley nodded, she turned the stove element to half the took the large pot lid and covered their now self cooking dinner. "Right. Now we play the waiting game." She said with a sigh. "While we wait, shall we start on some of this mess?" She asked, looking at the bench which was to say the least, an utter mess.

Shepard looked upon the near impossible task, it had to be done sooner or later. "I suppose, but before we do." He had taken the Thessian wine and pulled the top off, pouring themselves a glass each. He handed one to Ashley and kept on himself. "Cheers." He said, holding his glass up.

"Cheers." Ashley replied, gently touching Shepard's glass with her own, then taking a sip. To say that it tasted great would be an understatement, it was phenomenal, the best drink Ashley had ever tasted "Wow, where did you get this? This is the best damned thing I've ever tasted."

"I think we have Kasumi to thank for that." Shepard said, after taking his own sip, he fully agreed with Ashley. "Those Asari really know how to make a good wine."

"Amen." Ashley said, taking another sip "Do you know if she got any more?"

Shepard shook his head "Just the one, I'm afraid."

"Damn, because I don't think we could afford to buy something like this on a regular basis." Ashley said, moping a little as she took another sip, a smaller one so she could savour it for longer.

"Tell you what, every year we need to get a bottle and just take a night to ourselves, like tonight." Shepard said. "But next time, we learn how to make a dessert as well."

"I'll drink to that." Ashley said, taking another sip of the wine. "Speaking of which, it's almost time for you and Chakwas to share another bottle of brandy, right?"

Shepard nodded, he remembered back during his mission against the Collectors he had procured a bottle of brandy for the doctor and they both made the promise to make it a yearly tradition. She had bought forward the idea earlier that they agreed to, saying they might not get the chance to with the reaper war going on, but he had told her to save it for their victory. "You're right." Shepard said with a smile, but it soon turned into a grin "But if I recall, somebody drank all the brandy that was on the Normandy."

Ashley couldn't help but turn red, she still hadn't forgiven James for letting that slip to Shepard while he was still in recovery. "Oh, well I'm sure whoever did it feels like an idiot right about now."

Shepard couldn't help but openly laugh, he enjoyed Ashley's sense of humour "Don't worry about it, I spotted a couple of bottles under the bar. I'll take them back with us."

Ashley couldn't help but smile "Good, just don't let me near them."

Shepard couldn't help but grin "Don't worry, I won't. Liara told me just how bad you were after you had finished."

Ashley couldn't help but groan. "Why can't the shadow broker keep her mouth shut."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle, he found it so adorable that Ashley was easily embarrassed. For her benefit, he decided to change the topic "Ash, can you tell me about that necklace you're wearing? I've seen it on you a few times."

Ashley looked down at it and smiled "It's a long story."

"We've got all night." Shepard reminded her.

"Alright." Ashley said, reaching up and undoing the necklace and passing it over to Shepard "It's my most prized possession, it was given to me by my father when I was promoted to Gunnery Chief."

Shepard looked down at the greenstone christian cross, he knew that Ashley had religious beliefs and he had nothing against them. He wasn't religious himself, but he respected others and their religious beliefs, but not when they were forced upon him. At the mention that it was her most prized possession, he took extra care in handling it.

"It goes beyond that, before he gave it to me, it was a sort of lucky charm of his." Ashley said, continuing her explanation "Back when I was around 5, I think, my dad was a part of a unit sent into the Skyllian Verge to help begin colonisation on one of the planets there and provide security, I forget which one. Anyway, just as they had begun to set up camp, they were set upon by a band of Batarian pirates. They managed to push the pirates back, but their Sergeant, a good friend of my dads was mortally wounded, before he passed, he handed his dog tags and this necklace to my dad, and told him to keep them safe." She paused to take her breath "I've only worn this a few times under my armour, other times I keep it safe with my gear, and I must say, the times I wore it, I'm glad I did."

"Any missions that aren't classifie?" Shepard asked.

"Eden Prime, Virmire, Horizon, Mars, even here on the Citadel." Ashley said, checking them off her fingers "Dad was right, it really was a good luck charm."

Shepard still looked down at the greenstone necklace, it didn't look that old at all, in fact it looked well kept, it really must have meant so much to Ashley "That's a really nice story, Ash. The fact your father gave this to you must have really meant he trusted you."

"Yeah, I still remember his words." Ashley said, smiling at the reminiscent thought " 'This once belonged to the best soldier and friend I could have ever asked for. It has been my good luck charm ever since and has kept me alive when I faced certain doom. I give this to you in the hope that the same protection he gave me will now pass to you. _When I am gone. He works his work, I mine. There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail._ You have made me proud, my daughter, continue to do so and know your grandfather and my good friend will be watching over you.' He than saluted me as I left for my new posting." She couldn't help as a single tear then began to slide down her cheek.

Shepard was lost for words, Ashley truly had a father that cared for her deeply, as much as he did now. With the necklace still in hand, he reached up and tied it around her neck, managing to find some words. "Ashley. You have come a long way from where you expected to end up, you exceeded your own expectations and earned each and every promotion the Alliance and council threw at you. In three years, you have risen from Gunnery Chief to a respectable Commander, as well as a Spectre." He had taken both her hands in his and gently giving them a reassuring squeeze. "You have done them all so proud and wherever they are, they are smiling down on you." He managed to say softly "And you will continue to make them all so proud of your accomplishments. Remember, you are a Williams, and you always will be."

As Ashley listened to Shepard's comforting words, she couldn't help but smile as some more tears began to fall, this was one if many reasons she loved him, he made her feel good. She closed the distance between the two of them and wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled herself in closely to Shepard. There were no amount of words she could say that give Shepard the appreciation he deserved for such moving words, the best she could muster up was a simple embrace. She felt as his arms wrapped around her, bringing her in closer, she never felt as safe as she did when in Shepard's arms. She rested her head against his shoulder and shut her eyes to stop any more tears from falling, she couldn't see but the tears had probably smudged her mascara. "Shepard, I..."

Shepard needed no words from Ashley, when he saw that look of genuine gratitude and felt as she wrapped her arms around him, he knew how gracious she was to hear his supportive words. "Just shut up and kiss me." He replied softly.

Ashley didn't need telling twice, she shifted one of her hands from Shepard's waist and softly held it behind his neck, she lifted her head from his shoulder and inched her lips closer to his until they finally made contact. Every time she kissed him, it always felt as though it was their first kiss all over again, the excitement, the nervousness, the passion, they all spread through her from the contact of his own lips. His warm hand, massaging the small of her back was a great comfort, sometimes she found it difficult to believe he could have such a gentle touch when on the battlefield his own strength could crush any enemy, and his biotics were near unmatched in terms of humans, he could easily rival most Asari. She felt as his lips slowly parted with hers, she didn't want this kiss to end, but it was going to anyway, on Shepard's terms.

"What your father said." Shepard said softly, with his forehead still pressed against hers "That was another piece from Tennyson, wasn't it."

Ashley couldn't help but smile "Yeah, have you been reading some?"

"Yeah, I borrowed the book I bought for you back when you were in Huerta." Shepard said "I needed something to do when you and my mother were practically forcing me to stay in bed. I can see why your father liked him, his poems are amazing."

Ashley's smile deepened. "John, can you read one to me?"

Shepard smiled. "_To sleep I give my powers away; My will is bondsman to the dark; I sit with a helmless bark, And with my heart I muse and say:_

_O heart, how fares it with thee now, that thou should fail from thy desire, who scarcely darest to inquire, 'What is it makes me beat so low?' _"

"In memorian, to sleep I give my powers away." Ashley said, surprised that Shepard had gotten the first two verse's word for word.

Shepard nodded "I was hoping you would recognise that one, it really spoke to me. It reminded me of my final moments during the crucible."

Ashley's look changed completely, she had heard this story already, and it tore her up inside, she didn't want to hear it again. "John, you don't need to say anything about that." She said, turning her head away so she didn't have to look him in the eyes.

"I do." Shepard said, reaching up then gently gripping her chin with his thumb and index finger, her turned her face back to look into her eyes. "You were my final thoughts, Ashley. I could have been thinking about a million different things, but you were the one thing that meant the most to me."

Ashley just stared into his steely blue eyes, his words, even his loving stare couldn't keep her angry at him, she didn't want to hear about how he almost died, but he put it out there. She lost him once before and it all but destroyed her, almost losing him a second time was just as bad and she didn't like reliving the memories as it always bought so much pain. "Please, John. I don't want to talk about that anymore. I just want to enjoy ourselves and have a pleasant evening, please." She let to of his neck to bring her hand around and caress his cheek.

"I'm sorry, Ashley. I just thought you should know." Shepard said in apology.

"Lets just forget about it and check on our dinner, it's almost been fifteen minutes and we didn't even touch the mess we made." Ashley said, her voice as soft as the smile that had spread across her face.

Shepard's face couldn't help but crack into a smile. "You're such the perfect distraction, Ash."

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

Exceeding both their expectations, the pasta and salad they had prepared for themselves turned out to be better than they thought, it went down well with the Thessian wine. Now that they were wine and dined, they had moved to the upstairs lounge area and were sitting down finishing the bottle of Thessian wine. The kitchen remained a mess, but they would leave that to their future selves to worry about.

"So, there I was, having just finished the obstacle course on Titan." Ashley said, bringing an end to her explanation about her Alliance training days "Then my drill instructor gets up in my face and yells '_Dammit Williams, you left your damned unit behind! Get back in there and hurry their asses up!_' "

Shepard couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, Chief Ellison was always a hard ass. She still thinks my unit and I cheated when we broke the course record that she and her unit had set. I just told her the timer doesn't lie."

Ashley couldn't help but laugh as well "What did she do to you then?"

"Made me do push-ups until my arms were too weak." Shepard said as if it were nothing, but he remembered just how bad his arms were in the days following, he almost failed his AR qualification because of it.

Ashley giggled slightly as she finished the last of the Thessian wine, she couldn't help but moan slightly "Damn, none left. Ah well, I think we'll now have to find something else fun to do." She purred seductively.

"Oh? Anything come to mind?" Shepard replied, with a grin now on his face.

"Oh, I've got something in mind alright." Ashley replied "You just wait right here." She stood up from the couch and made her way to Shepard's bedroom, swaying her hips as she did.

Shepard couldn't help but grin and watch her as she walked, she was such a tease when she wanted to be, and he didn't have any problem with that. He wondered just what she might be planning, but he knew exactly where it would end up going, the bed. He was usually a patient person, but waiting on his urges was where the fine line ended.

"Alright, come on in!" Ashley called out.

Shepard was on his feet faster than normal, the pain in his knee mysteriously absent. He quickly made his to the bedroom, only to find she wasn't there.

"In here, lover boy." Ashley said mischievously from the bathroom.

Shepard recognised her tone of voice, and couldn't help but grin, Ashley was at the point between tipsy and drunk, and this Ashley was a lot of fun. He made his way into the bathroom, to find Ashley's dress and underwear sitting in a like on the floor, while the owner was sitting in the hot tub. Shepard couldn't help as his grin grew deeper, the bubbling water impeded his view of her naked self, but that didn't stop the growing arrousal between the two "Is the water good?" He asked.

"Why don't you come in and find out." Ashley purred, the mischievous look on her face was driving Shepard insane.

Shepard didn't need telling twice, he quickly began to unbutton his suit, his top come of first, revealing his rippling muscles to Ashley. She couldn't help but stare at the mounds of physical perfection, biting her bottom lip as she continued to watch him strip before her. He slipped out of his shoes and began to unbutton his pants when he caught Ashley's look, his grin grew into smirk, something told him this night would be one to remember. He let his pants fall to the ground, now he stood before her in nothing but his jocks, instead of removing them, he stepped into the warm waters and sat down opposite Ashley, this was apart of his game.

"Fair is fair." Ashley said, that seductive grin on her face now driving Shepard wild. "Lose the underwear."

Shepard's smirk remained "Fair is fair." He replied. With a little bit of awkward manoeuvring, he slipped out of his jocks and tossed them behind him where they landed in the floor with a wet slap.

"Much better." Ashley said seductively, Shepard was now hers.

She moved through the water closer to Shepard, this was her game now and she was going to play it the way she liked to, tease the hell out of him until she broke that final restraint and release the primal animal she knew lurked within. She straddled his lap, now firmly pressing her naked body up against his, she could feel his growing beneath her and it sent a wave of excitement through her body, she was heavily arroused and was now acting on her urges. She didn't wait before she dove in, she kissed him hard on the lips, the passion and arrousal growing the more time their bodies rubbed against each other. Ashley's tongue now began to move into Shepard's, exploring his mouth and enjoying the taste of wine that still lingered. She felt as his hands moved under the water and eagerly gripped her hips, firmly keeping her in place, but she wasn't going anywhere, not until she had had her fun.

The mounting passion and arrousal growing between the two was beginning to get to Shepard, he wanted to take her now and all she had to offer. Her womanhood was very enticing as she grinded it along his thighs, massaging his growing erection, his restraint was rapidly fading, if she continued at this rate he wouldn't be able to hold himself back. The ferocity and passion she was putting into her kiss was nothing like Shepard had ever felt before, it was almost like she was trying to devour him, she wanted him so badly and lord knows he wanted her just as bad. That was the last straw as his final shred of restraint faded.

She felt as his restraint faded, his erection had become rock solid and now was the perfect time for Ashley to pounce. Before Shepard could make the first move, Ashley positioned herself and lowered her womanhood onto his erection, impaling herself upon it. The feeling of his erection moving further into her and stretching her walls caused her to break the kiss and sigh loudly with ecstasy and pleasure. She sank her full weight down onto him, feeling him move further and further inside of her until she had taken all he had to offer, she remained in that position for a moment to let herself adjust before she started grinding her hips and causing his full erection to move in and out of her at a constant pace. She couldn't help but shut her eyes and moan in bliss at the constant feeling of pleasure pulsating throughout her body. She placed her hands on his shoulder for some support and she continued her fluid movements and continued the relentless assault upon Shepard's erection.

This was exactly what Shepard had been waiting for, the satisfaction and relief flooding through him was nothing short of fantastic. At regular intervals he thrust up into her which caused her body to shudder with pleasure from the rough treatment, and she loved it. Slowly Shepard began to feel a strong pressure beginning to build within himself, he felt as it continued to build, but with his new found restraint managed to keep himself under control for a little longer. Ashley's constant moans of immeasurable pleasure and her bare breasts bouncing in front of Shepard's face began to eat away at the restraint he had applied, but that wasn't going to stop him from satisfying the woman he loved. He felt as her walls began to tighten the more she continued to bounce up and down upon his erection, he felt that she was close as well and was going to give her all he had to offer, he held her hips firmly to stop her from bouncing up and down and now he began to thrust deeply into her.

This sudden move from Shepard caught Ashley completely off guard, feeling him move deeper and deeper inside of her caused her moans of pleasure to grow louder from the blissful treatment. She felt as his erection hit a spot and a flood of pleasure rapidly spread through her, it caused her moans to become loud yells of pure pleasure as his erection continued to relentlessly assault that one spot. She felt as an immense pressure began to quickly build up, her slick walls began to tighten the closer the pressure came to releasing, and it only caused Ashley to become light headed, and now she felt as Shepard's pace picked up to an unbearable pace. In an instant, the pressure was released and quickly spread through Ashley as waves of complete satisfaction and pure ecstasy, she couldn't help but moan loudly but it was cut off by Shepard's mouth closing around her and drawing her into a passionate kiss. Her intense orgasm had left her head spinning wildly, she hadn't experienced anything like it before. She pulled from Shepard kiss and looked into his eyes with nothing but satisfaction and adoration "Wow. That was amazing."

Shepard couldn't help but grin, he too had reached an incredible orgasm. "Yeah. I think the hot tub added to the excitement of it all."

Ashley couldn't help but giggle, she gently slid from his lap and sat beside him, wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling herself closer to him. "We definitely need to do this again, and next time you can do all the work."

Shepard couldn't help but smirk and stared down at Ashley as he wrapped an arm around her naked body. "The night is still young, Williams."

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

In Shepard's opinion, the previous night had gone far too quickly, to say that he enjoyed himself was nothing short of a complete understatement, it had been one of the best nights of his life. He had never had so much fun in such a long time, it had been nothing but business for the past four years of his life, even during his party he was largely focused on the coming assault on Cerberus and taking Earth back from the Reapers. His mind was now completely calm and relaxed that he was able enjoy himself without any worries, and the fact that he was able to spend it with Ashley, the love of his life, was just the icing on the cake. He now lay in his bed after enjoying a night of the most intimate love making of his life and a dreamless sleep, Ashley lay next to him, her still naked body clung tightly against his for warmth and comfort.

He couldn't help but lean in slightly and place a kiss on her forehead before carefully slipping out from under her, he used some of his biotics to keep her stable as he slipped out from under her. He stood from the bed and proceeded to pull out a pair of fresh jocks and pull them on, soon followed by a pair of sweat pants. He looked back at Ashley who was still calmly sleeping in the bed, a smile present on her face, he himself couldn't help but smile at how cute she looked right now. He decided to let sleeping beauties lie, he stepped into the bathroom and began picking up their clothes, both sets had somehow managed to get wet from the hot tub last night. As he picked up his suit top, the victory ring that had been concealed in the top pocket fell out and landed in the floor with a clatter of metal on tile, he froze to see if it had woken Ashley, but she remained still and he was able to breath again. He stared down at it while it stared back at him, he hadn't stopped thinking about what Joker said, it would make a good engagement ring.

He gently knelt down and picked it up, looking at it then over to Ashley, he had no doubts in his mind that he wanted Ashley to be the woman he would to spend the rest of his life with, he only hoped she would feel the same way. He stood back up and slipped the ring into his pocket, he had a good feeling about asking her now, he was so deeply in love with her he somehow knew she would say yes, but now wasn't the right time to ask her, she was still asleep, after she had woken up, he planned to pop the question. He quietly left the bathroom and bedroom and made his way downstairs, he hung their wet clothes in front of the fire to dry and turned to the kitchen. He now regretted leaving it the way they had, but it had to he done, summoning all his spirit, he charged into the kitchen and set to work cleaning the previous nights mess.

After a half hour of solid cleaning, Shepard had managed to finally clean the mess from last night, the dishes were working through a cleaning cycle in the dishwasher and all food items had been stored away, there was some pasta remaining and Shepard had begun to eat some as a quick breakfast. He pulled a nearby data pad over to him and activated it, reading through some of Anderson's memoirs, this was a man he greatly respected as a mentor as well as a friend, and he had given his life for the war. A pang of guilt ran through him, it was his finger that pulled the trigger of his own weapon, and that was how Anderson had died, Shepard had killed his own mentor and friend, even if it had been the Illusive man that manipulated him to do it, it was still Shepard that had done it. This was a fact that he had kept to himself, he had left it out of his explanation to the council, he was just so overcome with guilt that it had happened. He shut the data pad off and pushed the leftover pasta away and got up, he needed to loosen up, and forget all about it, it wasn't his fault at all, right? He didn't need to play the blame game now.

He had made his way into one of the guest bedrooms that doubled as a makeshift gym, a punching bag, a levelled bar in the doorway and foam mat sat inside. He moved to the punching bag and adopted his marine fighting stance, treating the bag like any enemy he would come across. He started by making quick jabs at the bag, if it were a really enemy, it would be a way to find a hole in their defence as well as wear them down bit by bit, he then launched into some stronger hits, designed to get by simple defences and cause some damage. With each hit, he felt as pent up frustration and anger came to the surface, everything that had happened over the last three years could have easily been avoided if everyone had taken his warnings seriously, his hits were becoming more and more savage the more he thought on it, specifically those lost during. Thane, he thought as he bought what would have been a crippling blow to any enemy, Leigon, EDI, Mordin, Anderson, Kaiden. The thought of Kaiden made his biotics flare up and surround his hand, he unleashed a devastating punch in the bag, which caused the whole rack to slid across the floor and slam into the wall behind it. The bag split in two and the sand inside fell onto the floor in a pile, he couldn't help but groan and left the guest room and went back out into the lounge area by the bar, the thought of losing his valuable allies for this war was still fresh with Shepard, he still found it hard to believe that he was still here when the others weren't.

He sat down on the couch and looked up at the picture that had appeared on the screen in from of him, the group photo that had been taken the night Shepard held his party. He couldn't help but smile as he looked on everyone's face, nothing but relaxed and humoured looks from everyone, it was a sight to see all his current and former crew members in one photo. They had all been with him through thick and thin, many taking bullets for him and him taking many for them. He was staring at the picture for so long that he didn't hear Ashley come down the stairs then sneak up behind him and wrap her arms around his chest "It's a great photo, isn't it?" She whispered into his ear.

"The best." Shepard replied, the smile still on his face. He turned his face to look at hers "Good morning, beautiful."

"Good morning." She replied, placing quick kiss on his lips. She then came around and sat on his lap, wearing nothing but one of his white shirts. "Good sleep?"

"Best sleep I've had since I was dead." Shepard joked, he looked at Ashley wearing his shirt "You know, that is a great look, you should wear it more often."

Ashley couldn't help but grin as she looked down at Shepard's muscles "And you too, sweat pants and nothing else. Mama likey."

Shepard couldn't help but laugh "Did you really just say that?"

"I sure did, John." Ashley replied, her grin still plastered to her face. "I'm only wearing your shirt because I couldn't find my dress."

"It's in front of the fire." Shepard said "It got a bit wet last night."

Ashley couldn't help but giggle lightly "How did we manage that?"

"Beats me, all I know is that I don't really care." Shepard said "I had a good time with you last night."

Ashley's grin turned into a smile "It was amazing. Thank you."

"You deserve half the credit." Shepard said "We basically did everything together, and yes I do mean everything."

Ashley's smile turn back into a grin as she thought back to the events of the previous night, she had lost track of how many times the two had made love, but she didn't really care, it was an experience like none other. "I remember, it was all so amazing."

With Ashley now awake, Shepard decided that now was a good a time as any, he gently reached into his pocket and pulled the victory ring out from it. He held it in front of Ashley. "Here. What do you think of this?"

A diamond ring? Is he serious?! Ashley could feel her own heart beating a mile a minute, was he really doing what she thought he was doing? "John. What is that?"she asked, extremely shocked that something like this was put in front of her.

"It's called a Victory Ring." Shepard explained "It's a ring forged with metals from all the council homeworlds, EDI gave it to me as a gift during our last shore leave."

Ashley felt herself calm down a little, seeing the diamond ring like that really sent her whole body and mind into overdrive, it wasn't a proposal, just a gift given to him by a good friend. But something irked her, a big part of her really was hoping it was a proposal, even though the shock of it initially caused her to think the worst. "It's actually quite pretty. EDI has good taste in jewellery, did she want you to marry her or something?"

Shepard couldn't help but roll his eyes, it was the same thing he had said to EDI when she first showed it to him, and the same joker Joker had used. "I actually asked her that, but she told me what it was. She had been buying gifts for the crew as a sign of friendship, almost buy Joker a skycar, with his own credit chit."

"You're not serious?" Ashley asked in surprise. "Poor Joker, I don't think he would have liked to get that bill."

Shepard couldn't help but smile "Yeah, he would have been paying it off for a while. So anyway, this ring, what do you think?" He asked, handing it over to Ashley.

She had taken the ring and was now admiring it closely, it really was a marvellous work of jewellery. "It's really nice, I'm actually quite jealous."

Shepard couldn't help but smile, this was his in. "You know, if you want, you can keep it, I don't really have much use for a ring like this." Ashley made to reply but Shepard cut in front of her "But before keep it, I need you to do something for me."

"What?" Ashley asked curiously, oblivious to the question that would follow.

"Will you marry me?"

* * *

_Greenstone is basically Jade, in my dear old homeland of Middle Earth (New Zealand), Greenstone is mainly used for Māori necklaces, they can either be simple designs, or a complicated craft, but the results are always spectacular._


	7. Chapter 6

_Hello all! Well, I must say that I am glad I could get this Chapter up, usually with me when I hit the sixth chapter I develop a bad case of writers block... Useless fucking superstition... But it's passed me by, so the writing continues... Slowly... Damn you school holidays and work making me do extra time! Meh, can't complain though, more money towards my Xbox One... Yes, I'm getting an Xbox One, got a problem with that? _

_Anywho, enough about me, here is Chapter 6, written and checked (Though I probably missed stuff, so you grammar Nazi's best keep a lookout for me.) so please enjoy and don't forget to keep those PMs and reviews coming. Don't forget, I've got an open door policy, so any ideas, remarks, praises etc, don't be shy to talk to me about them, wait... As it's the Internet, I can't exactly have an open door... Gah! Just quickly read before I keep going on and on!_

* * *

**Mass Effect: Duty Calls**

**Chapter 6 - Proposal's and Promotions**

"Will you marry me?"

If there was ever one piece of advice Shepard wished his parents had given him, is that the silence that follows after proposing to the one person you loved, would be the longest and most nerve racking silence of your life. A million scenarios ran through Shepard's head as he patiently awaited her answer, even though he felt confident that she would say yes, the way her face couldn't make up its mind over which emotion to show was really making Shepard nervous.

Ashley was now holding the ring like it was about to explode, how could something so small be so life changing like this. She wanted to say yes almost instantly, she loved Shepard so much, and would gladly spend the rest of her life with him, but she was still nervous as hell, and that was what was holding her answer back. "John, I... I don't know what to say, this is just so... sudden. Are... are you sure about this?"

Shepard nodded "Yes. I wouldn't have asked otherwise."

Ashley's eyes travelled back to the ring, it was a really beautiful ring, and it's diamond sparkled brightly in the light, but what it represented was something that scared her. She felt as though Shepard was rushing into this without thinking it through thoroughly, in technical terms they had only been together as a couple for a short time. "John. Stop and think about this for a moment..." But Shepard cut her off.

"Ashley, I've had all the time in the world to think about this." Shepard said, some worry in his tone, if she was beating around the bush like this, then there was something more to this. "I know we haven't seen eye to eye in the past, but I love you, and I know you love me."

"I'm sorry John." Ashley said, a look of sorrow and pity on her face. She handed the ring back to Shepard and climbed off of her lap, she then began to make her way into the study, hiding her face from Shepard's view as her eyes began to water. She had downright rejected him, and it really broke her heart to do so, and right now she needed some advice from the one person who knew what she was going through.

Entering the study, Ashley sat down at the terminal and logged in as herself. She prayed her next e-mail would reach the intended recipient, her finger moved like wildfire across the holographic keyboard, and a small message soon turned into a novel. She hit the send and leaned onto the desk, the guilt was still manifesting inside her that it was beginning to hurt, it sat heavily in her heart and each beat felt like daggers plunging into the love muscle. In a short 5 minutes, a comm call was now coming in, without hesitation, Ashley opened the call, and there on the screen in front of her was the sight of not only one, but four familiar faces.

"Hey guys." Ashley said, her spirit lifting slightly at seeing her mother and three other sisters.

"_Ash! It's so good to see your face again, even if it is only over the extranet._" Her mother, Madeline, said with a warm smile.

"_Yeah, but look at what she is wearing, whose bed have you been rolling around in?_" Abby said outloud, gathering giggles from the William's women on the other end.

"Knock it off guys." Ashley said, her mood dropping to new lows, that sentence had struck a nerve "I'm serious, I need some help here."

"_God, you're not pregnant are you?_" Sarah quickly interjected, the sharp look Ashley made through the vid shut her up, but a humoured smile was still present.

"It's... Well, it's something that just happened." Ashley said, keeping her voice quiet. "John just proposed to me."

Screams of glee and joy could be heard from all the Williams women. "_Ashley! That's wonderful news!_" Madeline said in joy over her other daughters screams of joy. "_Oh, your father would be..."_

"I turned him down." Ashley said before her mother could finish her sentence.

The silence fell between the Williams women, all their faces had dropped and what surprise and glee that were there before had disappeared without a trace. Sarah was the first to speak "_Why?_"

"I don't know why." Ashley said, now feeling a worse weight in her heart "It was just so sudden and I was caught off guard. I mean, I love him, I really do, but... Why did I say no?" She asked desperately, she really wanted to know the answer, it was causing her so much grief.

"_Honey, we can't answer that question for you._" Madeline said in a sweet and calm voice that seemed to soothe the tense emotions flowing through Ashley. "_You love him don't you?_"

Ashley nodded "With all my heart, I do love him."

"_And it is also very clear that he loves you, and wants to spend the rest of his life with you._" Lynn suddenly said. Out of her sisters, she was the one that seemed to think along the same lines as their mother. "_So what's the worst that could happen?_"

"I just... The last time I really opened my heart to him like this, I lost him." Ashley admitted. Suddenly, the answer she had been searching for became clear, she was afraid of letting him in again, she didn't want to be hurt by the loss of John, not again.

"_Sometimes, you just have to take the risk._" Sarah said, she had been the one she wanted to speak to originally, but Ashley wasn't one to turn away her mother and sisters. "_When Thomas proposed to me, the first two questions I asked myself were 'Does he love me?' and 'Do I love him?' after that it was a no brainer, we loved each other and got married, remember you were there and one of my bridesmaids._"

"_And I was the maid of honour!_" Lynn said proudly.

"_Give it a rest already._" Abby said in a bored tone. "_And besides, I still can't believe our youngest sister was the first of us to get married. Unbelievable._" Abby interjected which gathered some giggles from Lynn.

"_Anyway._" Sarah said, cutting the other two a sharp glare. "_The time we spent together was the best in my life, even if it were short, but I will always cherish them forever, and I know he is up there, watching over me._"

Madeline was smiling proudly at the youngest daughter. "_Remember the story I told you girls about how your father proposed to me?_"

All the girls couldn't help but roll their eyes, even Ashley. "_We've heard it a million times, mum._" Lynn said in a bored tone "_He had just gotten time off from his posting, he took you out to dinner, popped the question with this diamonds ring he claims to have spent two years salary on, and later you two celebrated._"

"_Yeah, the evidence of that celebration is speaking to us over the extranet right now._" Sarah said.

Everyone broke into laughter, even Ashley couldn't help but crack a smile, this was why she loved calling her mother and sisters, they always cheered her up from even the most depressing of moods. With a clear head, Ashley could now think without clouded judgement, getting married to John was definitely worth the risk. "Thanks guys, I really needed this."

"_Of course, honey. It's what family is for."_ Madeline said. "Now, we had better go, other families want to use the comm terminal, we were lucky to squeeze in to talk to you."

Ashley nodded and smiled, she was glad her mother and sisters had safely made it away from the Citadel during the reapers capture of the large space station. Like many of the other human refugee's, they had fled to Terra Nova, one of the few colonies in the galaxy that was now free of the reaper threat. "Of course, when the relays are repaired, I'll be sure to come and pay a visit."

"_Of course, Honey, lots of love!_" Madeline called out.

"_Take care sis._" Abby said eagerly.

"_Love you!_" Lynn and Sarah both said.

"Love you guys too." Ashley said, beaming them a warm smile before shutting off the terminal. She sat back in the chair, the smile still present on her face as she stared at the blank screen. The feelings of pain were no longer there, they were no longer there because knew what she had to do, if Shepard wasn't going to propose to her, then she would propose to him. She stood up from the desk and made to go find John, but she didn't have to look far, he was standing at the entrance to the study, leaning against the doorway, had he heard her conversation with her sisters and mother? "John?"

"You never said no." Shepard said simply, his face in a neutral standing.

"What?"Ashley said in surprise, what was he talking about, she had practically rejected him.

"I asked you to marry me, and you never gave me an answer." Shepard said simply, as if it were obvious. It was clear that he was heartbroken still, but he wasn't the type to give up so easily, even when he knew he could beat the odds.

It dawned to Ashley that Shepard was right, she hadn't answered his question, and the fact that he was now here in front of her trying again really proved how much he wanted her in his life. "John, I'm really sorry about before. Honestly, I was really caught off guard when you asked me to marry you, it made me nervous."

"Nervous?" Shepard asked, not fully understanding. "Nervous about what?"

"Nervous about our future together. When you asked me, it really opened up my heart, and I almost let you in again." Ashley said "The last time I opened my heart to you, and let you in, you died, and I spent nearly two years mourning your loss with a broken heart. I didn't want that to happen again, I don't want it to happen at all." She confessed, she was now standing right in front of him, she reached out and gently touched his chest, right where his heart beat for her. "I love you so much, John."

Shepard's emotionless expression remained painted across his face, but slowly it broke into a smile, he was really touched that she would still let him in after so much. "What about now?" He asked "Am I being let in?"

"Why don't you ask me again and we'll see." Ashley said "Unless you're sure about this, it's not too late to back out."

"Of course I am sure about this, Ash." Shepard said calmly, wrapping his arms around her hips. "I've never been as sure about anything as I am now, you are the very woman that I want to spend the rest of my life with. I want to grow old together, I want us to laugh together, to smile together and everything in between. Hell I would even love it if you were the mother of our children. Behind every great man, there stands a great woman, and I want you to be that great woman, Ashley. You're my everything, and I will not be leaving you again, ever. So I ask again, will you marry me?"

Ashley was touched, her nervousness melted away as she heard from his mouth just how much she truly meant to him, there was no doubt in her mind anymore, his way with words had once again overcome her heart. Shepard was her everything. "If you want me to answer, do it properly."

"What do you mean, properly?" Shepard asked "You don't mean the whole down on one knee thing, do you?"

Ashley couldn't help but grin "That is exactly what I mean."

Shepard couldn't help but groan, kneeling with his injured knee hurt, but it was a small sacrifice "You want me to suffer, don't you." He grumbled. "Can I just get two glasses of champagne instead? You know, ring in the bottom of the glass? Anything but kneeling."

"Less talking, more kneeling." Ashley said, her grin still present upon her face as she eagerly awaited the new proposal.

Shepard shifted himself and sank to one knee, doing his best to ignore the pain that followed. He reached up and took both of Ashley's hands in his own and stared up into her twinkling brown eyes. "Ashley Williams. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

Ashley couldn't help but smile as she stared down at Shepard, looking at the hopeful look in his eyes, it was just so cute to see them like this. The nervousness didn't surface, her answer was now straight and true, her heart was now open to Shepard. "Yes John, I will marry you." She had let him in again.

Utter delight and relief came to Shepard face, he couldn't believe it. The brightest smile Ashley had ever seen came to Shepard's face as he stood up, the pain non existent, and firmly held her left hand so he could slip the ring on her finger. The ring was a little too big, mainly because it had been shaped to Shepard's finger.

"Guess we'll need to take it in for resizing." Ashley said as a humoured smile spread across her face.

"You're right." Shepard said, removing the large ring from her finger. "But in the mean time..." He reached up behind her neck and began fiddling with her greenstone necklace, after a moment, the ring slid down her necklace and hung beside the greenstone cross. "This is a good place to keep it safe and show it off to everyone."

Ashley looked down at the ring, she couldn't believe it, she was now engaged to be married, and to Shepard of all people, the very man that had come back from death to save the galaxy, and win her heart all over again. She couldn't help as a sweet smile spread across her lips, she looked up from her ring up into Shepard's eyes, those steely blues were focused directly on her, and they were full of nothing but adoration. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled herself against him "By the way, how much of my call did you hear before?"

"Enough to know you were a cheeky love child." Shepard said with a grin.

A scandalised look mixed with a humoured smile came to Ashley's lips, she playfully hit him on the chest "John!"

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle "Sorry, I couldn't help myself."

Ashley's scandalised look left and the humoured smile remained, but even it didn't remain as it was soon overtaken by a loving and warm smile. "I love you, John."

Shepard couldn't help but smile as he wrapped his own arms around her "I love you too, Mrs. Ashley Shepard."

Ashley couldn't help but chuckle lightly as she tightened her embrace. "Mrs. Ashley Shepard. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

Shepard smile turned into a grin, he leant down and stole a quick kiss from her "Yes it does."

"So, I guess we have a lot of planning ahead of us." Ashley said with a grin. "First, we need to figure out a venue."

"Planning already?" Shepard said with a humoured smile. "I only just proposed."

"Yeah, but I want to marry you as soon as I can." Ashley said. "Now that I am engaged woman, I don't want to stay that way for long."

Shepard couldn't help but grin "Alright. Nothing big, just family and close friends. I've always hated being in the spotlight."

"Don't worry, I'll be up in that light with you from now on." Ashley said with a smile.

"I couldn't ask for more." Shepard said as he leant down and placed a kiss on her lips. A sudden thought came to his mind "What about Eden Prime?"

"What about it?" Ashley asked.

"Why not have our small wedding there?" Shepard suggested "The place where we first met."

Ashley just raised an eyebrow "Are you sure? It's a nice thought and all, but just too many bad memories of the place."

"You're right, I'm sorry." Shepard apologised. He scolded himself for not thinking into it any deeper, even to him Eden Prime was full of bad memories, but he would have liked to have made a good memory about the colony.

"It was a sweet thought, John." Ashley said, putting on a sweet smile "Just think a little more romantic."

John went silent for a moment as he thought of a romantic location in which the two could be wed. Romance had never really been one of Shepard's forte's, but now he wanted to do himself proud. Slowly he began to think through some scenario's he remembered from some novels he had read when he was younger, the female literacy teachers loved to shove romance novels down their students throats, now he was wishing some of those authors ideas had stuck in his head. There was one thing he did remember, most of the woman seemed to like long walks on the beach at sunset, so maybe that could be a possible scenario, only one way to find out. "A beach at sunset?"

Ashley's smile turned into a grin "See, now that's better. As a matter if fact, I like it. A wedding on a beach, with the sunset as our background, but I just can't be any old beach, somewhere where we can just kick our shoes off and feel the sand between our toes."

"Fiji?" Shepard suggested "They have some of the most beautiful beaches in the pacific, and it's a nice island, away from the outside world."

"John, I think we just planned our wedding." Ashley said, her grin still present.

"When?" Shepard asked simply.

Ashley went silent as she began to think through things herself. "Well, some time when it is nice and warm, what about during Fiji's summer? It's only two months away."

"December 31st." Shepard suggested "That way we can begin a New Year and husband and wife."

"John, you're on a romantic roll." Ashley said, surprised at his initiative. "Alright, December 31st, Fiji, and at sunset. Great, now you've gotten me all excited."

However, their planning was to be cut short, almost instantaneously, the VI that managed his private messages spoke out over the intercom "You have received a new message, Commander. Priority from Admiral Steven Hackett."

Shepard couldn't but help sigh in annoyance "You know, I could almost feel that coming on. Seriously, whenever we are alone, something always spoils the moment." He said as he let go of Ashley and limped to his terminal and read the priority message from the Admiral.

_From: Admiral Hackett_

_Commander Shepard. _

_The council and I are requesting your presence immediately, we have a small situation and we need your intervention before it develops further. I won't say more over the extranet, but you will be fully briefed when you arrive at the embassies._

Shepard shut off the terminal and couldn't help but groan, he hoped it wouldn't be a while before they needed him for something else. "Well, as usual, shore leave is cut short, again."

Ashley had come up behind Shepard and read the e-mail over his shoulder. "Think it's bad news?"

"Probably." Shepard said in an annoyed tone as he turned in his chair to face Ashley. "Either that or they just need me for something they can't be bothered dealing with."

Ashley couldn't help but scoff and sat forward on the couch. "Of course they need you for something, couldn't you just tell them to shove whatever problems they have up their asses and leave you alone so you can spend time with your new fiancé?" She looked to him to see his reaction, but he didn't have his usual annoyed and angry look like he usually did when ordered in front of the politicians. Instead, they were studying her and they seemed impressed with what they saw. "What are you looking at?" She asked with a seductive purr.

Shepard was indeed staring at Ashley, he was still so infatuated by how she looked at the current time. "I've said it already, but god damn you look hot in just my shirt."

Ashley couldn't help but grin, she looked down at the loose white shirt of Shepard's she had procured as she had no extra clothes with her. "Why thank you." she said. With Shepard in such an easy position, Ashley moved forward and sat across his waist and drew her barely covered body against his. She lipped her hair to one side and inched her head closer to his, he slowly began to do the same, but before their lips could touch, she had already planted a finger across his lips. "But no distractions." she whispered in a lusty tone. "You have to report in." She loved to tease Shepard in this way, drawing him in closely then turning him away, giving him something to think about while he spent time away from her. She stood from his waist and walked passed him, dragging her hand across his chest as she did. "I'm going to take a shower, all the dirty things we did last night need to be washed off." She said in that irresistibly lusty tone of hers.

Shepard couldn't help but grin as she walked past, he carefully watched her as she walked out of the study and back to the bedroom. He really had made the right choice in asking Ashley to marry him, she was everything he wanted in a life long partner and then some. He couldn't help as his grin grew sly, he didn't care if he was late getting to the council, besides, Ashley was right, with all the dirty things they had done the night before, he could also use a shower.

* * *

******-S-**

* * *

The elevator door opened and Shepard stepped out into the embassies, his walking stick taking the lead as he still needed it for some mobility, the sooner he could walk properly the better. After a refreshing shower (In which he had climbed in with Ashley.) he had donned his dry shit and had gotten to the embassies as quickly as he could. Aside from two Asari and a female turian conversing in the corner, the embassies were empty, he wasn't exactly sure where he was supposed to go to meet the council. Though his worry would be answered, one of the Asari had left the other two and approached him. "Are you by chance, Commander Shepard?"

"Yes, I am." Shepard said in his usual straight face.

"I thought you might be." The Asari said "If you would follow me, I'll escort you to the new council chambers. They are all waiting for you." She then turned around and began leading Shepard away from the main hall of the embassies.

Shepard nodded and began to follow, he noticed they weren't going up the stairs to some of the Councillors offices. Instead she lead him through the large doors to the door that sat down the far end. "They are just inside here. If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to ask." She said, giving a slight bow before wandering back over to the other Asari and turian.

Shepard nodded "Thank you." He said as she left him. He activated the doors holographic interface and the door rapidly opened. He was met with a boring sight, he looked upon a room barely larger than his CIC, and it was completely white, save for a large black circle that sat directly, it was where seven terminals were set up in a half circle around the black one on the floor. The Councillors were all stood behind them, so Shepard wasted no time in stepping inside.

"Thank you for coming at such short notice, Commander." Councillor Tevos said as Shepard stood in the middle of the black circle. "We have much to discuss."

"I'm all ears." Shepard said, his 'politician' face now coming into effect.

"We have had much to discuss since you left us yesterday, we have addressed our most pressing issues first and foremost." Valern began. "We have all agreed to send our best engineers out to repair the mass relays of the galaxy."

It took all of Shepard's willpower to stop him from pointing out that that should be the obvious thing to do first.

"However we are focusing on rebuilding relays within our respective home systems first. The Local Cluster's relay is repaired as you know, and many have returned to their home worlds already."

"What about the Krogan?" Shepard couldn't help but ask, they were the only race without a fleet or ships to travel back to Tuchanka.

"I have ordered the third fleet to return all Krogan to Tuchanka, then they will remain in the system to repair its mass relay." Hackett then said. "The Krogan have been an immense help with the rebuilding process on Earth, it's the least we can do."

Shepard nodded in understanding, he was finding that the new council seemed to be working just as Shepard had hoped.

"As for the reaper corpses." Hackett then began. This immediately caught Shepard's attention, he hoped a solution was being out before him instead of study."In a 5-3 vote, we have decided to avoid reactivating any part of their systems and destroy them by sending them into the nearest star."

Shepard let out a sigh of relief, however he couldn't help but wonder who might have been the three who wanted to keep the reaper corpses, and what would their intentions have been.

"Moving on." Korris then began "We then began discussing the future of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance unit. It will remain, however while we will be busy directing our own rebuilding efforts in the coming years, it will be difficult to do both manage the council and Spectre unit, so we decided to separate it from our authority and give it to you."

The blank stare he usually had with politics was wiped clean off of his face with this new piece of news and replaced with one of nothing but surprise. "Wait, so what does that mean exactly? Am I in charge of the Spectres?"

"Simply put, but yes, you are now the head of the Spectres." Valern said. "Your Spectres will report to you, and then you report directly to us."

Shepard wanted to turn the offer down almost immediately, but it got him thinking, if he said no, then who would be his replacement? He shuddered at the thought of someone like Tela Vasid running the spectres. In the end, he decided that it would be best if he did run the Spectres, that way he could maintain a stricter authority and make sure the peace was kept. "I accept, thank you for this opportunity, Councillors."

"That is the non-classified information we can share with you for now, Commander. But putting that aside, we have a situation developing." Tevos began. Shepard didn't like the way she had said 'non-classified', but he wasn't going to push the matter. She activated her omni-tool and began to bring up what appeared to he a security video. "This was taken by a security VI just over 12 hours ago."

She streamed the vid to play in front of Shepard, what it showed to Shepard wasn't something he wished to see, he watched as what appeared to be mercs gunning down Alliance personnel. But something seemed familiar about where they were, he knew he had been there before but couldn't put his finger on it.

"This was captured from our training ground on Luna." Hackett said "They have captured the facility and activated its defences, we have tried sending in teams to deal with them but they are shot down before they can even land."

Shepard listened to the Admiral's words, but he was also looking at the image in front of him, where the councillor had paused the vid, showed Shepard more than he needed to know. He recognised the symbols in the mercs armour, it was the mark of the blue suns, what was more disturbing he noticed the two in the group without their helmets on, Darner Vosque and Vido Santiago, and they seemed to he running the show. He couldn't help but feel a big surge of rage spread through him, he had helped the blue suns back in the citadel by getting the turian general, Oraka to lay off so he could have Aria T'Loak use them for the war effort. Vido ran worse than Vosque, as he had learned from Zaeed, a tough mercenary and feared bounty hunter, as well as an invaluable ally to Shepard, Vido was one half of the founders for the blue suns, ironically enough, Zaeed was the other half.

Zaeed had been seeking Vido for twenty years worth of revenge after he had shot Zaeed in the face after betraying him, somehow Zaeed had survived, but with heavy scars and limited use with his right eye. Cerberus had managed to recruit Zaeed for Shepard during his mission against the Collectors, and to gain his loyalty in the mission, Shepard helped track down Vido and assaulted the oil refinery on Zorya, attempting to kill the target of Zaeed's revenge. Unfortunately, using the time Shepard had used to help save the exploding refinery, Vido managed to escape and went into hiding, and now he had resurfaced.

"And you want me to go in and secure the facility, is that correct?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, Commander." Hackett said "We originally intended to leave them be and let their supplies run out, however they hit any ships passing by in quick hit and run attacks, and any pursuit we offer ends with us losing ships to the outter defences. The supplies they take are more than enough to keep them holed up in the facility for a very long time."

"Declare Luna a no fly zone and have some cruisers standing by in case they make any attempt at more attacks." Shepard said "My team and I can handle it."

"Very well Commander, the mission is yours." Hackett said "Meet me aboard the Kilimanjaro at 1200 and I can give you a full briefing, this is purely an Alliance matter and we can handle it."

Shepard didn't agree that this was an Alliance matter, they were now a united galaxy and it didn't seem that any of the other races were offering support. Obviously there were still things to work out within the new council, but he wasn't going to go jumping in and making a mess of things. He stood to attention and saluted his superior officer "Yes sir. If that is everything, I will need to return to the Normandy and prepare a response team."

Hackett looked around at the other Councillors, none had anything else to add. "That's all, Commander. Dismissed."

Shepard nodded and paid one last salute to all the Councillors before turning and leaving the new council chambers. He had to get back to the Normandy ASAP, there were people out there that needed to give Shepard answers, and he was going to get them one way of another.

* * *

******-S-**

* * *

Shepard had just activated the QEC and stepped back c folding his arms in frustration.

"Well, I somehow figured you would wind up getting in contact sooner or later."Came the cold and strict voice of Aria T'loak, just as an image of her sitting in amber couchppr "What can I do for you this time Shepard."

"Good to see you made it back to Omega in one piece." Shepard said as an ice breaker.

"I didn't think I would ever see it again." Aria admitted as her hologram showed her staring off into nothingness. "But you did it, you saved the galaxy." She said in an unimpressed tone, even a colossal feat such as this still didn't go far enough to impress her, but then again she was never one for much emotion, just anger and rage. "But I doubt you called me to see how I was doing, what do you want?"

"I want you to tell me what happened to the blue suns." Shepard said bluntly. "They are causing some trouble back here and I want to know why."

Aria's face turned sour over the hologram. "That fucking Santiago. I had the Blue suns, firmly in my grip, then that asshole decides to resurface and now suddenly Vosque is loyal to him."

"How could you have missed something like this?" Shepard said coldly. "I thought you would have had something like this under control."

"I won't lie, I thought I did too." Aria said "Which is why I want their fucking heads on a silver platter. No one that has double crossed me has ever lived to tell about it, they broke my one rule."

Shepard knew that one rule all too well, she stressed it enough when he first met her in afterlife, Don't fuck with Aria. "If that is everything, I have preparations to make." Shepard said "They have taken over a training post on Earth's moon and killed a lot of Alliance personnel to do it."

"I meant what I said, Shepard." Aria said "I want their fucking heads on a silver platter, I'll even pay you for them. This way we both win."

"I'll keep that in mind." Shepard said. He reached out and cut the communication, he had a feeling that Aria wasn't involved, but he just needed to be sure, it was now one less worry. He left the QEC and began to make his way down to the med bay, if he was going to be assaulting Luna base, he needed to have use of his knee, he only hoped Chakwas was available. He entered the med bay to find the doctor sitting at her desk, typing away at her terminal.

"Don't you ever stop working?" Shepard couldn't help but say "I gave the crew shore leave until 1700 hours."

"I know, Commander." Chakwas replied with her easily distinguishable British accent. "But that also gives me time to finish my reports."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle lightly, it was just like Chakwas to get her work done before taking any time to herself. "In any case, I'm glad you're here. I have something coming up, and I need the use of my knee, do you have anything other than a walking stick that could help?"

"Interestingly enough, I do." Chakwas said as she turned in her chair to face Shepard. She stood from her chair and crossed the room, she opened one of the larger drawers and pulled out what appeared to be a knee brace of sorts, there weren't any wires or anything, it looked rather foamy, like someone had cut the knee off of a wetsuit. "The reason why your knee hasn't healed properly is because of the damage it sustained, the cartilage in your right knee is completely gone, making it harder for your joints to flex properly, and that is what causes the pain and stiffness. With this, it promotes the knee to flex more, and will make moving a lot easier, as if you had a perfectly good knee again."

Shepard took the brace, he looked at it and wondered just how it could make manoeuvring easier. "So, what do I do with it?"

"Just pull it on over the knee, and it will do the rest." Chakwas said "Just be careful though, it gets pretty tight."

Shepard did exactly as Chakwas said, he lifted up his pant leg and pulled the knee brace up over his knee. It didn't feel like it would help at all, if anything it felt as though it was loose and would slide down his leg. It wasn't until Chakwas activated her tool and punched in a few keys that it began to work its magic, the brace quickly bonded tightly against Shepard's knee, it caused him to gasp loudly with some pain as it got so tight it felt as though the blood flow going down his leg would cease. A loud cracking sound could be heard and immense pain then followed, then as swiftly as it had appeared, it disappeared.

"Did it... Did it work?" Shepard asked, still remembering the pain that appeared quickly and disappeared just as quick.

"Walk normally and you should be fine." Chakwas said, stepping back to admire just how the prosthetic cartilage was sitting.

Shepard took a step forward, hesitantly putting weight on his foot, usually the pain would follow if Shepard wasn't using his walking stick for support, and surprisingly no pain came. He took several more steps and found he was able to walk properly without any pain or stiffness, Chakwas' prosthetic cartilage was working a treat. "It works!" He said in surprise.

"Of course it does, Commander." Chakwas said "I've been working on it for the past month, and I'm glad you approve. Now, it is very effective and durable, it can handle a lot of punishment, but I wouldn't recommend over exerting it."

Shepard paid Chakwas a warm and humbling smile "Thanks Karin. Now please, take some time to yourself, you deserve it."

"Of course, Commander." Chakwas said "I just have to finish this one report then I'll go and relax." She sat back down at her desk and resumed typing away on her terminal.

Shepard gave her a quick nod and made to leave the med bay, instinctively picking up his walking stick, he realised what he had done and instead of taking it away with him, he tossed it into the nearest disposal he could see, he wouldn't need it any longer.

* * *

******-S-**

* * *

The Kilimanjaro was the largest dreadnought in the Alliance navy measuring just over a kilometre in length, ever since the destruction of Arcturus station, it became Admiral Hackett's mobile command centre. The Admiral now stood in the CIC, looking over a data pad that had just been passed on to him from his executive officer.

"Sir. Are you really sure we need to undertake a task such as this?" They asked the Admiral, a little intimidated by the superior officer.

"The Alliance cannot be caught off guard again." Hackett said. "The war with the reapers has really opened my eyes, we are hilariously outgunned and out matched. This new project will be the Alliances iron fist."

"I... I understand sir." The XO said "Oh, and I forgot to mention, Commander Shepard arrived in a shuttle just two minutes ago and will be up here momentarily."

"Good. Now take this project and store it safely in my cabin." Hackett said, handing over the data pad.

"Does it have a code name for appropriate storage?"

"Codename: Project Everest." Hackett replied.

The XO swiftly saluted and made their way from the CIC, incidentally at the same time as Shepard entered the dreadnought a CIC. He couldn't help but whistle in an impressed manner, this CIC was nearly three times larger than the Normandy's, and the crew managing the ships systems seemed to be run under a tight shift. He spotted the Admiral and swiftly made his way over to the superior officer, he quickly sprang to salute when he stood before him. "Admiral." He said with respect.

Hackett returned Shepard's salute with one of his own. "Commander. Thank you for coming."

"Of course sir." Shepard said, standing at ease with his hands behind his back, before coming to the Kilimanjaro, he had swiftly changed into his dress blues, unsure what he was being called here for. "May I ask why I am here, sir?"

"I have called you aboard because there are some things I need to do formally, and un-formally." Hackett admitted "Shepard. The galaxy is entirely in your debt, as well the Alliance military, and humanity. Your selfless actions in the past years have advanced humanity into the galactic community more than any politician could ever dream of. You proved we as a species were ready for the responsibilities of being one with all when you were made the first human Spectre, and again when you saved the Citadel from Sovereign." He paused to catch his breath. "Though your loyalties were questionable in your time with Cerberus after you resurfaced after two years of nothing, the bigger picture must be looked at, you saved humanity from a fate worse than death, the Collectors."

Shepard didn't know what to say, he was being praised by the head of the Alliance military, so instead of speaking, he just listened.

"Again you proved your worth to the galaxy by stopping another reaper invasion when you destroyed the Alpha relay. I realise the death's of over three hundred thousand Batarian's came with its destruction, but again the bigger picture must be looked at." Hackett said. A different officer had come up to the pair of them holding what appeared to he a varnished wooden case of sorts. "John Shepard. It is with great honour I bestow upon you the Allaince's greatest honour, Defender of Humanity." From the velvet lining in the case, he pulled one of the two medals from inside and pined it to Shepard jacket.

"Thank you, sir." Shepard said, keeping a straight face and standing professionally.

"The Alliance rewards those that have shown their worth, you have gone much further than anyone in Alliance history." Hackett said. "It is with great honour, Shepard, that I promote you. To Admiral."

Whatever professionalism Shepard was using faded in an instant. "_Admiral?!_" He said, unable to keep his face straight. "But sir... I..."

"My decision is final, Shepard." Hackett said "I don't just go handing out promotions to just any body, you have to earn it, and I think it's fair to say that you have more than earned this."

Shepard didn't know what to say, there were no words in the known galaxy to explain just how surprised and honoured he was to receive this role. But at the same time, he felt as though he didn't deserve it, there were so many others out there that deserved recognition for their contributions and sacrifices over the past year, earning this illustrious promotion almost felt like favouritism. "I... Thank you, sir. I won't let you down."

"More importantly, don't let yourself down, Admiral." Hackett said. "As for your second commendation, this is one the council wished for me to pass on to you, they are awarding you the Platinum Star, the highest commendation of acts of bravery and selflessness in the galactic community." He took the second medal from the box and carefully pinned it beside the Alliance medal.

"Again, thank you sir." Shepard said, now saluting Admiral Hackett out if respect.

"Of course, Shepard." Hackett said, returning the salute. "Now the formalities are over, we need to discuss your insertion onto Luna."

"Yes sir, what's the de-brief?" Shepard asked.

"I currently have a small team of N7 operatives on the surface providing recon and awaiting your arrival for the assault." Hackett said "They have remained radio silent, and their beacon is still transmitting. Your teams objective is to rendezvous with this team and from there you are on your own."

"Of course sir, if there is nothing else, I will leave and prepare for the assault." Shepard said.

"Of course, Shepard. Dismissed." Hackett said.

Shepard sprang to salute, which was returned by Hackett. With the conclusion of the meeting with Hackett, Shepard made his own way while Hackett seemed to head off in the direction of his cabin. Rather than going to the shuttle bay to depart back to the Normandy, he made his way to the comm room, inside was another officer ready to help with any communication need.

"Welcome to the comm room, sir." The comm specialist said, bringing her hand up to her forehead to salute the newly promoted Admiral. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes." Shepard said, politely returning the salute "I need to open up communication with someone down on Earth."

"Of course, sir. Just give me one minute to boost the signal." The comm specialist said, typing away at her terminal. Thirst seconds later, she spoke again "Sorry for the delay, sir. Who would you like me to contact down on Earth?" She asked politely.

"Zaeed Massani."

* * *

_SPOILER! No wait, I've already given up enough spoilers from some of the DLCs anyway, fuck it, if you haven't played any of the ME trilogy DLC then you are missing out on some serious content. You all remember Tela Vasir, right? The Asari Spectre from the Shadow Broker DLC in ME2, need I say more? That bitch got pwned!_


	8. Chapter 7

_Hello all! I must say this update is sooner than expected, I just had some free time today so I just ended up writing, and before I knew it, I had a Chapter to upload. I wanted to originally make this just one Chapter, but it would have been just a little bit too big, so I have to cut it into two, maybe others if I get carried away like I did here._

_So, I decided to introduce two new characters to the Mass Effect universe, they are if my own creation, so don't go ripping them off, you dig? If you want to know more about them, flick us a PM and I'll make up a service record for you to look at._

_Anywho, enjoy and don't forget to leave a review!_

* * *

**Mass Effect: Duty Calls**

**Chapter 7 - The Price for Revenge (Part 1)**

"Another patrol."

"That's what... The third in an hour? Something has got them an edge."

"Fourth, Vega. And you're right, they are definitely on edge, I would be surprised if a fight broke out between a pair of them. Then at least then we could have something to keep us entertained."

Vega went silent as he looked up from the scope of the Sniper Rifle, but remaining prone along with his partner. He took in his surroundings once more, checking to see if any Blue Suns members had used their brains and scouted further than the training ground. But so far all he saw was the barren land of the moon from the slope they were camping on. They had a perfect vantage point for reconnaissance and if necessary, sniping position. "Still no sign of any behind us. Fair to say that they still don't know we are here."

"And the state the obvious award goes to Vega. Seriously, you are just lucky you're easy on the eyes otherwise I would have requested another team mate."

"Hey, come on now." Vega said, chuckling at casual flirting going in between the two. "No need to get your panties in a twist, blondie. I think it is awesome the Colonel teamed me up with hottest señorita in the Alliance, it's always nice to have a good distraction every now and then."

She couldn't help but sigh loudly in a frustrated tone "For the last time Vega, stop calling me Blondie, I have a name you know. It's Gwene."

"I know, I know." Vega said, trying to calm the situation. "Blondie is just easier to remember, I just look at that hair of yours and there it is. Unless you would rather in called you 'Blue' you know, like the colour of your eyes."

Gwene just shook her head. "When you're done describing my appearance, maybe we should get back to what the Colonel asked us to do, and find a weakness in their patrols." She turned her head away from James and looked back through the scope of her modified Black Widow "Honestly, it's no wonder you drove the Colonel crazy with your... Hello, what's going on now?"

"What is it?" James asked, as he looked through the scope of his Mantis.

"One of the leaders just came out of the training grounds and now it seems they are yelling orders. Ugh, I wish Blake would hurry up and tap their comms already." Gwene said, keeping a careful eye on the compound through her rifle.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, he was supposed to check in thirty seconds ago." Vega said, scanning the area where Blake should have been when he reported back in.

"He probably lost track of time, as usual." Gwene said "I honestly don't know how he made it through the N7's engineer programme, he didn't know one end of an omni-tool from the other."

"Come on, he's a good guy, just a little... Well, dim I guess." James said.

"Yeah, but still, I don't want to get in trouble with the Colonel if he doesn't check in." Gwene said, still scanning the area for exploitations in the patrols ranks. "You know how the Colonel is, he likes everything to he perfect."

"Of course I do." Came a heavy australian accent from behind them "Because I don't accept failure in my unit."

James and Gwene swiftly turned to look at the owner of the the voice, there kneeling behind them was Colonel van der Wyk, their N7 superior. "Status?"

"Sir!" Gwene began "We have been scanning the patrols of the Blue Suns mercs, and it is difficult to find an opening we can exploit, they are too inconsistent. It can be one patrol one hour, and then four in the next, I haven't been able to see any patterns."

The Colonel nodded "Alright. Vega, has Blake reported in yet?"

"No sir." James replied "He missed his check in time two minutes ago, and we haven't been able to make visual contact."

The Colonel just shook his head. "I swear to god, if that boy doesn't report in, in the next thirty seconds..."

A sudden shocked gasp from Gwene ceased the Colonel's threat. "Sir. Another patrol just came back, they have Blake."

Before Vega could look down the scope of his own rifle, it had been snatched by the Colonel who was now using it to look at the compound. As Gwene had said it, a patrol was forcibly carrying and restraining the N7 engineer. "That idiot." He muttered to himself. "Vega, open up a comms with Blakes helmet, I want to hear what is going on."

"Copy that." Vega said as he activated his omni-tool and began trying to open up comms.

_"Sir! We found him just inside the perimeter!_

_"What were you doing out there?"_

_"I... I was making my way to that slope to the north..."_

James, Gwene and the Colonel all froze, that was the exact position they were now camping.

_"I have a team about three kilometres to the south, doing recon and setting up Sniper positions. The Alliance has an artillery strike planned for the day after tomorrow at 1200 hours."_

The Colonel was still looking through the rifle "That idiotic bastard, they'll never fall for it."

_"An artillery strike? Obviously they don't care about all the other humans inside. I don't think I believe you."_

_"Please, I've told you the truth, I just don't want to die."_

Vega turned to look at the Colonel "Sir, we have to do something!" He hissed.

"No Vega, we don't." The Colonel replied "With the false information he has given them, they should take him in as prisoner to see what else he knows. Then when Shepard and his team arrive, we can initiate a rescue."

"Wait, Shepard is coming?" James asked, surprised to hear his old CO and friend would be coming down to help deal with the Blue Suns.

"Quiet Vega! I can't hear what they are saying!" The Colonel hissed.

"_What do we do with him now?"_

_"He stupidly betrayed his own squad, just to save with worthless skin. I think we should teach him a lesson."_

The leader of the mercs stepped closer to Blake, and without any warning, gripped the edge's of his breather helmet and forcibly ripped it from off of Blakes head and threw it behind him. Gwene had to turned her head away from the scope as the vacuum of space sucked all the air from Blake's lungs, quickly and painfully suffocating him to death. His body fell to the ground in a slump and several of the mercs seemed to be laughing, they were completely sadistic.

"I can't believe they just did that." Gwene gasped, completely shocked at what she had avoided seeing, but still able to hear all that had went on.

"What did they do?" James asked, not able to see what had happened.

"They tore his helmet off and left him to suffocate." The Colonel said, anger present in his tone, he hated to lose good men, but they still had a job to do.

"Shit! So what do we do now?" James asked, usually he would have shared a plan if this were Shepard, but him and Colonel van der Wyk were two completely different people.

_"Send three patrols south and capture the others that this one was with, kill if you have to."_ Some of the mercs nodded and nearly half the numbers outside began making their way south, further away from the N7's. _"And the rest of you, get rid of this filthy human body before it starts to stink up the place."_

The Colonel watched as the Patrols went south. "Blake, you smart bastard. Those idiotic mercs actually believed him, they're sending three teams on a wild good chase. Gwene. I think now might be a good time for you to slip onto that base and take care of those AA guns."

Gwene was a little hesitant to go after witnessing one of her comrades murdered in cold blood, fearing that might happened to her. "Sir?"

"You're one of the best Infiltrator's in the N7. Vega and I wouldn't even be able to get close enough." The Colonel said, trying to provide some comfort and give a nice morale boost. "If anyone can do it, you can. Besides, Vega and I will be covering you from up here."

Gwene knelt up from her Black Widow and nodded "Yes sir, I'll have it done in no time." She pulled her M-77 Paladin from her magnetic holster and attached a suppressor to the barrel. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck, Blondie." James said as she left the recon camp. He picked up the Mantis that had just been dropped beside him from the Colonel and used it to watch Gwene's progress. "So, sir. How did you know it would be Shepard bringing a team down to reinforce us?"

The Colonel went prone and filled the vacant spot that Gwene had been using. "Just before I came up here to join you, a encrypted message came to the Mako and said him and his team would be here at 1700."

"That's two hours from now, sir." James said, looking at his omni-tool for confirmation of the time.

"Yes, and that is why we need to bring those AA guns offline, they are flying in, in one of those Kodiak's." The Colonel said "It wouldn't be good for the resume if you got the galaxies hero shot down before he even made it to the battlefield, would it?"

James couldn't help but grin, maybe him and Shepard weren't so different. He didn't say anymore as he used his rifle to watch Gwene's progress, with her light frame, she would be difficult to spot, not to mention the fact she could disappear under a tactical cloak whenever she wanted. It didn't take her long to reach the outer perimeter of the compound.

"_I'm in position._" Gwene said over the comms. "_What can you tell me about their movements._"

James carefully scanned the area, spotting Gwene hiding behind a jutting rock, the patrols weren't even concentrated on looking North, just south where they thought they should have been. "Alright, none of them are even looking in your direction, you should be able to make it to the first AA gun without detection, but move quickly and quietly."

"_The only way I know how to move, Vega._" Gwene replied over the comms. "_Just watch and tell me if any of them decide to use their brains._" She peaked out from behind the rock, when she saw it was clear, she swiftly made her way from the rock and managed to reach the first AA gun without issue. She then began to work on disabling the first AA gun, some muttered curses came across the radio, but in no time, a triumphant sigh could be heard "_First AA gun down, three to go._"

"Alright, a patrol just broke off and is headed to the eastern gun. Slip through the compound and take care of the western gun." The Colonel said, who also like Vega was scanning the area and keeping an eye on Gwene.

"_On my way out._" Gwene said, pulling the Paladin from her hip and quickly making her way through the compound, ducking in and out of cover when able.

"You weren't kidding when you said she was the best Infiltrator in the business." James said "I haven't seen anyone move as stealthily as she can."

"Then it is a good thing I decided to bring her along." The Colonel said "We're both soldiers, we'd stand out like sore thumbs."

James couldn't help but chuckle "I hear that."

"_If you two are both done talking._" Gwene's said over the radio "_How am I looking?_"

James quickly spotted Gwene hiding behind a set of stolen crates, the AA gun was in clear sight. "You're all clear, just don't take so long this time."

Gwene moved from behind her hiding spot and swiftly closed the distance between her and the AA gun. She couldn't help but scoff over the radio at Vega's quip. "_Well, I'd love to see you slice into a maintenance panel and sabotage the firing matrix, making the damned things explode when they fire._"

"Are you kidding?" James said, grinning that he had gotten a rise out of her "I could do that in my sleep, Blondie."

"_You're just lucky I don't have my rifle, Vega._" Gwene said in a frustrated tone as she finished her sabotage of the second AA gun.

James couldn't help but laugh lightly "Yeah, I guess you're right." It was a threat of Gwene's that shut Vega up, and with good reason, Gwene was an expert Sniper, never having missed a shot throughout her entire Alliance career.

"Alright, if you two are done bickering." The Colonel said, both of them ceasing at once. "Gwene, you can either go sabotage the southern gun or eastern gun, both are protected by guards."

"_Alright. Do you have a clear line of sight to both guns?_" Gwene asked over the radio.

"Yes. Your best bet would be to eliminate the southern one first, then it would make your approach to the eastern one easier." The Colonel said "But with the mercs all looking south, you might be hard pressed. It's up to you."

The radio went silent for a few moment as Gwene was busy thinking, shortly she replied "_I do love a good challenge. I'll deal with the southern gun first._"

"Alright, but if you get caught then we are gonna have to save your ass, so try not to get spotted." James said over the comms.

"_Yeah, then you'll have nothing to stare at when my back is turned._" Gwene replied over the comms.

"Uhh... What are you talking..." James began, but was cut off by Gwene over the comms again.

"_Oh don't be like that, I've caught you staring at my ass every time I turn around, Vega._" Gwene said, but her voice wasn't angry or annoyed, if anything it was quite humoured. She knew Vega could be a shameless flirt, and so could she.

James thanked his lucky stars that he had a breather helmet on as he could feel his face heat up and turn red. "You have two guards headed towards your position." He said, trying to get his mind off of things. He watched as she disappeared under her tactical cloak, and then they couldn't see her any longer.

"_I don't mind it so much, Vega._" She replied over the comms "_As I said, you are lucky you're easy on the eyes._"

James was lost for words, with his peripheral vision he noticed the Colonel shake his his head in what appeared to be slight annoyance.

"_Alright. I'm just behind the crate about twenty two meters to the guns right, you spot me?_" Gwene's voice came back over the comms.

"I got you." The Colonel replied, having found the crate she mentioned. "You are clear for the moment, you will only have thirty second to sabotage the gun and get back out of sight."

"_Copy that. Going under cloak again, wish me luck._" Gwene said, once again disappearing.

The next thirty seconds would be trying, with some of the guards attention facing the south, James and the Colonel couldn't help but hold their breaths, waiting for any sign of good or bad news. They had already lost one man already, and to lose one of the best Infiltrator's in the Alliance wouldn't exactly go down as a successful mission.

"_Dammit!_"

Both of their hearts stopped when they heard Gwene's voice over the comms. "What is it?" James quickly asked.

"The system for this gun is different than the other two." Gwene said in an annoyed voice. "_I'll have to shut this one down completely, and that will arouse suspicion if they try to use them._"

"Can you hack it so it will respond to our commands?" The Colonek asked.

"_Yes, but I'll need more time._" Gwene replied.

"Alright, do it." The Colonel said "But if any guards backtrack, just shut it down and get out of there."

"_Copy that, hacking now._" Gwene said.

For the next minute, James and the Colonel watched each of the guards movements carefully, none of them seemed to make any movements toward the AA gun.

"_Another twenty seconds and this gun will be ours._" Gwene's voice came over the comms.

However, before either of them could reply, they noticed two guards break off from the rest and walk slowly towards the southern AA gun, exactly where Gwene was hacking. "You have two guards headed your way, disable that damned gun and get out of there." The Colonel quickly said.

"_Just ten more seconds._" Gwene replied in a quiet voice, as if trying not to be heard by them "_I can do this._"

Ten seconds seemed to be taking longer than ten seconds should, the two guards were mere feet from Gwene now, if they looked around the other side of the gun, they would spot her. Both James and the Colonel were sweating profusely, would she be spotted?

"_Hack complete._" She whispered "_Moving on._" James and the Colonel both breathed heavy sighs of relief at hearing she had managed to complete the hack. The heard a snigger over the comms "_It's nice to see you two so concerned about my safety._"

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't take so long next time." James said in a still relieved tone.

"_I'm sorry, next time I'll make sure to do my best._" She replied in a heavily sarcastic tone. Her approached to the eastern AA gun was relatively easy, there were more crates littering the area so it made hiding a lot easier. However it didn't eliminate the problem of the two guards standing beneath the gun.

"Think you can draw them away?" James asked.

"I got my eye on something. Going under cloak, watch my back." Gwene said, as she disappeared before their very eyes. Several feet from where she had been, a large crate managed to fall off another and smash on the ground, spilling its contents over the moons surface. The two guards saw the crate fall and went over to investigate, weapons at the ready. Just as they arrived at the scene, Gwene emerged from her tactical cloak and was already working on the AA gun, she made the 'OK' symbol with her hand, knowing the two would spot it. She managed to finish her sabotage just as the guard began clearing up the mess she had made. "_All guns dealt with, making my way back to your position now._"

"Copy that, good job down there. Drinks are on me when we get back to Rio." The Colonel said, happy that the sabotage had been a success. "We'll need to toast our fallen comrade, the only way we soldiers know how."

"Hear hear." James replied, agreeing to his CO's words.

"_Seconded._" Came Gwene's reply over the comms.

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

Shepard sat in the co-pilots seat as Cortez carefully flew them along the moons surface, their plan was to approach the training grounds from the North and rendezvous with the N7 team scouting it out. Seeing that Cortez had everything under control, Shepard stood from the seat and went back to address his team. Everyone had been inspecting their weapons the whole time, Shepard had already given his a thorough inspection before leaving the Normandy, they sat in their magnetic holsters on Shepard's brands new N7 armour.

"Alright everyone, you all know the briefing." Shepard said, looking over his team of Garrus, Ashley, Tali, Liara and Zaeed who utterly insisted on joining them with this mission. "We are meeting with the N7 recon team and we will hear their report. Any questions?"

"What do we know about the leaders of the Blue Suns?" Ashley asked.

"Darner Vosque and Vido Santiago." Liara said, before Shepard could answer. "Vosque took over the leadership of the Blue Suns over a year ago, not much has changed with them except the resurface of Vido Santiago. He had been playing it safe by making others his scapegoat."

"That's Vido alright." Zaeed said, the anger in his tone enough to cut glass. "Put someone else's face out there, and when trouble comes your way, slip into the god damned shadows."

"Yes, that's right." Liara said. "Which makes all this more confusing, why leave the shadows?"

"You know him best." Shepard said looking to Zaeed "Thoughts?"

"He usually comes out of hiding if there is a big profit to he made." Zaeed said.

"I don't know." Garrus said. "What worth would there be in attacking war ships flying by the system, and Earth is right there, they had to know this wouldn't end well with the Alliance hub well within reach."

"What, they going to try take over Earth next?" Ashley couldn't help but say. "If the Reapers couldn't hold onto it, what chance would they have?"

"Landing zone just ahead." Cortez said from the cockpit.

"Alright, breathers on everyone." Shepard said, grabbing his own helmet and securing it on his own head. He watched as everyone except Tali grabbed a nearby helmet or breathing apparatus and secured it, Cortez had sealed off the cockpit.

The shuttle came to a slow stopped and with a soft thud, had landed on the moons surface, the outer door slowly opened, exposing them to the tough terrain. Shepard was the first to exit, having taken his Wraith Shotgun from the holster, it had always been a precaution to have a weapon ready when stepping out of the shuttle. He spotted a nearby Mako and slowly began to make his way toward it, the rest of his team following close behind. The canopy slowly opened, Shepard and his team stopped and immediately six weapons were pointed at the one exiting the Mako. "Loco? That you?"

Shepard immediately lowered his weapon at hearing his given nickname. "James?"

"Hey, alright!" James said as he leapt down onto the ground. He approached Shepard's team, even with his breather on, the biggest grin was present. "Didn't think you'd be out in the field again so quickly, Commander." He said as he took Shepard's hand.

"I'm as surprised as you are, James." Shepard said with an equally surprised grin as he shook James' hand "And it's Admiral now."

"No way!" James yelled in surprise. "You're shittin' me, seriously?"

"You sound so surprised Vega, he did save the galaxy after all." Garrus quipped.

"Yeah, I mean I knew you'd get promoted, but Admiral? You'd have done Admiral Hackett proud." James said, referring to Hackett's legendary rise from enlisted officer to Admiral after the First Contact war.

"He's not the only one who is proud." Ashley couldn't help but say.

"Alright, enough with the talk." Zaeed said in an annoyed tone "We got work to do, yeah?"

Shepard nodded "Yes, James take us to your CO."

"Yeah, hold on." James said, activating his comms "Colonel, sir. Shepard and his team are here."

In moments, another had exited the Mako and approached Shepard and his team, his N7 armour almost directly matching Shepard's own. "John Shepard. As I live and breath."

"Bryson!" Shepard said, walking toward him with his hand out. "Good to see you, old friend."

Bryson took Shepard's hand and firmly shook it. "Been a while, Shepard."

"Four years." Shepard said, a very big smile on his face "I believe you drank me under the table last time."

"Good times." Bryson couldn't help but chuckle "Anyway, this isn't a time for a catchup, we have work to do."

Shepard nodded "Agreed. Bring us up to speed."

"Very well, here is the situation." Bryson said, playing with his omni-tool and projecting a layout of the compound. "The mercs have taken the three underground training facilities, we haven't been able to get eyes inside, but from what we can see from the outside, they are heavily fortified and prepared to repel any attack."

Shepard and his team gathered around the holographic battlefield and carefully looked it over. "What about those AA guns, can we bring them offline?"

"Taken care of." Bryson answered. "Another of my team already took care of them, with successful results might I add. They won't be a problem."

Shepard's eyes were flicking over the hologram, looking for what might be a good assault tactic. "They have the high ground, so we can't make a frontal assault, we'd be slaughtered before we even made it up the hill."

"I've got one of my team up on that big slope here." Bryson pointed to a large mound north of the compound, it gave a clear line of sight. "They can provide covering fire if need be."

"One won't be enough, we could use another, two guns are better than one." Shepard said, he looked up to his team, his eyes immediately falling to Garrus. "As I'll be leading the assault, I'd best send the second best shot to join them." Bryson cleared his throat loudly. "Sorry, third best. Garrus, how do you feel about providing Sniper watch and covering fire?"

"It will be just like my Archangel days." Garrus replied "And Shepard, when we get back to the Normandy, you and I are going to have a nice talk about this being third best shot business."

"Of course Garrus." Shepard said, rolling his eyes with a smile. "Bryson, tell your Sniper they have another coming to join them."

"No need, she heard it all." Bryson said, taping his helmet with his available hand. He turned his attention to Garrus at this point "You must be a good shot if he is sending you up to join Gwene, she is deadly accurate and might just be as good as myself. Not a single shot missed in her entire career."

"_That's the nicest thing you might have ever said to me, sir._" Came a females voice over the comms.

"That was Gwene, just don't get on her bad side." James warned "Blondie has a nice temper."

"_I swear to god Vega!_" Gwene yelled over the comms.

Tali couldn't help but laugh "I think we found someone who doesn't like your nicknames."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle lightly "Alright, Garrus, head on up and join Gwene. We'll give you two the signal to open fire, and be sure to take plenty of thermal clips with you."

"Copy that, Shepard." Garrus said, leaving the group and beginning his ascent up the hill.

"Skipper, I think I have an idea." Ashley said suddenly.

"Alright Ash, lets hear it." Shepard said.

"Well, with the AA guns down, why not hit them on two fronts, an air strike and ground assault." Ashley began "Cortez proves air cover while the rest of us hit them from the ground with that Mako."

Shepard couldn't see any flaw in the plan Ashley had put before them. "I like it. Bryson, thoughts?" He looked to Bryson to see if he approved.

"Yes, I think that could work. We have our Snipers draw their attention to begin with, then we have your pilot hit them hard, then our ground assault moves in to finish the job." Bryson said "Then comes the hard part, we split into three teams and hit those three bunkers simultaneously."

"Alright, we have our plan of attack." Shepard said. "We'll move out when Garrus is in position, I'll have a word with Cortez. What about you two?" He nodded to Bryson and James."

"We'll handle the Mako. Vega, you're on the gun." Bryson said, looking to the Lieutenant-Commander.

"Aye, sir." James said, giving a quick salute that he understood his orders.

"Alright. Everyone load up and check your weapons, when we hear from Garrus, we show those Blue Suns just what happens when you piss off the Alliance." Shepard said.

"Hold up!" Zaeed quickly yelled before anyone could move "If anyone spots Vido, you leave that fucking prick to me."

"We know Zaeed." Shepard said. He noticed his look when he realised he was speaking more towards Bryson and James. "Most of us do. Liara, go speak to Cortez about our air support."

"Right away." Liara said, making her way back to the shuttle.

Shepard turned his attention to Bryson, James understood half the story already as Shepard had graced him with the story of his mission against the Collectors. "Vido Santiago." He said, as he activated his omni-tool and began playing the vid that was shown to him by the Asari councillor. "He is the leader of the Blue suns, shown here in this vid. Zaeed here has been hunting him down for the last 20 years, after what he did to him."

"What did he do exactly?" Bryson asked, but not Shepard, Zaeed.

"He betrayed me than shot me in my fucking eye. I intend to return the favour." Zaeed said simply, but his gruff tone made it sound worse than intended.

"And how exactly did he betray you?" Bryson asked, he was beginning to adopt his serious attitude, and both James and Shepard knew what that meant, trouble.

"He took everything we worked to build, and then some." Zaeed replied. "And I'm not the type of person to be fucked with."

Bryson didn't say anything else, he just continued to stare at Zaeed, as if trying to get a read on him. "Shepard, you sure do make some interesting friends."

"He was a big help beyond the Omega 4 relay." Shepard said "I trust him."

"Alright, that's good enough for me." Bryson said. He was about to make another comment, but Liara had returned and interrupted.

"Steve understands what he needs to do, Shepard." Liara said "He'll be in the air when you give the word."

Shepard nodded "Good. Now, I think it's time for some introductions. If we're all going to be working together, we deserve to know whose asses we'll be saving."

"Liara T'Soni." Liara said, stepping forward and holding her hand out before Shepard could introduce anyone.

"Bryson van der Wyk." Bryson said, respectfully taking her hand and shaking it.

Tali had taken the same initiative as Liara and stepped forward. "Tali'Zorah vas Normandy." She announced proudly as she too held out her hand.

"A pleasure, Tali." Bryson said,'taking her hand and shaking it.

"Ashley Williams." Ashley said, now moving over to stand beside Shepard "Soon to be, Shepard."

"Mrs. Shepard?" Bryson said, unable to hide the surprise in his voice. "How on earth did he role you into that?"

"He had his ways, none of which I think are allowed in polite conversation." Ashley joked, gathering a slight chuckle from Shepard.

"Hold on." Liara said "You and Shepard, are getting married?"

"Oh, I guess in all the excitement we never actually told anyone." Ashley said, realising what she had done.

"Surprise."'Shepard said simply.

"Wow, that's... I'm so happy for the two of you." Liara said, moving over to Ashley and giving her a celebratory hug.

Tali also rushed over to give Ashley a hug with Liara "Ash! That's amazing! Congratulations!"

Ashley was overwhelmed by the sudden embrace's from both Liara and Tali, but she returned them all the same "Alright guys, we can celebrate after we finish our mission."

"Of course, now I suppose Shepard will be taking extra care of you." Liara said as she stepped back from Ashley.

"As if he didn't do that enough already." Tali said, stepping back as well. "Ever since they got back together, he practically took her on every mission they went on, talk about favouritism."

"Come on guys." Shepard said, hoping to dismiss the friendly bantering. Truth was, Tali was right, but he just wanted to keep a closer eye on her. "Lets focus, Garrus should almost have rendezvoused with... with..."

"Gwene." Bryson helpfully interjected.

"Yeah. So lets get everything ready." Shepard said in a final tone.

Liara and Tali complied, but they couldn't help but throw teasing looks at both Shepard and Ashley as they began to check their weapons.

"Great, now they're never going to shut up about that." Ashley said in an annoyed tone.

"Pull rank, threaten to kick them off the Normandy." Shepard said, introducing the empty threat to Ashley.

"I would, but don't forget Liara has some serious information on us, and she would never let us live it down." Ashley said.

"It's times like these I really wish Liara hadn't become the Shadow Broker." Shepard said quietly while bowing and shaking his head.

"Don't worry, Skipper. Besides, we need to focus on the here and now, lets get this done and go home." Ashley said with a smile.

Even though Shepard couldn't see the smile, he could tell she was, just by the way she had spoken. "And which 'home' is that?"

However, before she could answer, the comms opened up and Garrus reported in. "_I'm in position, Shepard. Ready when you are._"

"Alright. We'll move out now, keep an eye on what they're doing until we give the signal." Shepard said to Garrus.

"_Copy that Shepard._" Garrus replied, and the comms were shut off.

"Alright people, everything is in place. Lets move out." Shepard said in a commanding voice. "Cortez, when I give Garrus the signal, get airborne and provide covering fire."

"_Copy that, sir._" Came Cortez'z reply over the comms.

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

The hike up the slope was nothing for Garrus, as apart of his training in the Turian military, 10 mile hikes were the only form of relaxation a soldier in training could look forward to. As his former drill instructor said "_Turians are born tough, made tough and are tough, so why the hell am I dealing with a bunch of sorry for nothings, who should still be getting milk from their mothers?_" It was the drill instructors way of helping the troops with the mettle of combat. He soon reached the highest point of the hill, and began looking for the sniper he was to meet with and provide cover fire for Shepard and others, he spotted her in a prone position closer towards the downward slope and silently made his way over to her.

"Garrus Vakarian." He announced "Here to help provide cover and support."

In a fluid motion, the sniper turned on her side, whipped her pistol from her hip and had it pointing directly at Garrus' head. When she was able to get a clear look at who had joined her, she placed her pistol back on her hip. "Sorry about that, you just snuck up behind me and gave me a bit of a fright." She stood up from her prone position and dusted her armour off, the N7 emblem becoming clear to Garrus. "Lieutenant Gweneth Longoria, at your service, Garrus Vakarian." She said politely, holding out her hand for Garrus.

"A pleasure, Lieutenant." Garrus said, taking her hand and firmly shaking it. "So, what can you tell me about our position."

Gwene turned back to her rifle and went prone once more, Garrus pulled his own Widow from his magnetic holster and joined Gwene in a prone position. "We are approximately 50 meters above their position, and over 600 meters away. With the low gravity of the moon, we can just put them in the middle of our cross hairs and fire without much problem." She said "But with my baby here, it wouldn't matter, I haven't missed a shot with her yet, and I don't ever intend to." She softly patted her Black Widow.

"Yes, your Colonel said you haven't missed a shot in your entire career." Garrus said "I'm not sure if he was exaggerating or not, but it can't hurt to hear from the source."

"He wasn't joking." Gwene said proudly. "100% accuracy. The day I miss will be the day I retire."

"Well then, lets hope it comes later rather than sooner." Garrus said in a polite manner. "Oh, I should report to Shepard." He activated his comms to Shepard and spoke. "I'm in position, Shepard. Ready when you are."

"_Alright. We'll move out now, keep an eye on what they're doing until we give the signal._"

"Copy that Shepard." Garrus replied, then he shut off the comms. He turned his attention back to Gwene "So, that's a Black Widow with what looks like a Thermal Scope and a High Velocity barrel."

"Not to mention spare thermal clips." Gwene said, smiling at the praise her baby was receiving.

Garrus was surprised, all the weapons he had come across could only handle up to two modifications at one time, and hers had three. "How did you manage that?"

"Well, I sort of tampered with it a bit. I'm a bit of a gun jock you see, I can take them apart and put them back together, better than ever if need be." Gwene said. "When I did it with my baby here, I sort of... Made some illegal modifications to it. If the Alliance knew I did this, I'd be booted out of the military quicker than a Krogan chasing a fertile female."

Garrus couldn't help but laugh at Gwene's last comment, the ironic thing is that Tuchanka was now full of fertile make and female Krogan's. "Well, my lips are sealed. Just make sure you do your 'baby' proud." She was rapidly becoming a new favourite of Garrus'.

"Oh, I will." Gwene said with a grin. "Those blue sun bastards won't know what hit them. I just hope you can keep up." She said, challenging the turian marksman.

Garrus couldn't help but chuckle "You don't know what you have gotten yourself into. You ever heard of someone called 'Archangel'?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Boy, have I. That lone gunsman, taking on the Blue Suns, Eclipse and Blood Pack all at once?" Gwene said, almost in awe "Omega could have used more like him, it's a real pity he died, I heard he was a good sniper."

Garrus couldn't help but grin beneath his helmet, hearing her praise the hero she didn't realise was lying right beside made it all the better. "I heard he was the best. Holding out for a whole day before Commander Shepard came in and helped defend his position."

"It's a shame he couldn't have saved Archangel, I would have loved to have bought him a drink." Gwene said.

Garrus' cheeky grin was becoming bigger "Oh, didn't you know? He did survive and served on the Normandy during the Collector mission."

"Really?" Gwene asked, now looking at Garrus as if he had just told her she won the lottery.

"Really." Garrus said, now trying to keep from laughing." A fine Turian if ever I saw one."

"Wait, so you're telling me you actually met Archangel?" Gwene was now giving her full attention to Garrus. "What was he like? What was his weapon of choice?"

"His weapons of choice, well, I know he liked to use a Mattock Assault Rifle." Garrus said, wondering if maybe she noticed it on his magnetic holster. "And as for his Sniper rifle, he stuck with the M-92 Mantis for a while, but when he laid hands on the M-98 Widow, there was never another rifle like it."

"Wow, that's..." Gwene began, but she soon began to realise that the weapons Garrus had described, that he now carried, were the same as Archangel's. "Wait a minute, are you... Archangel?"

"Guilty as charged." Garrus said, finally unable to contain himself.

Gwene's surprised look turned into a grin "Alright, 'Archangel' lets say I don't believe you, how can you prove to me you're the real deal."

"Why not say if I get more kills than you." Garrus replied, feeling a more challenging rivalry coming on.

"You're on." Gwene said. "But in all seriousness, I've got this in the bag, my rifle has more shots than the standard Widow."

"True. But if you really know how to make it dance, you don't need the extra's." Garrus said. "Though there was a time where I wouldn't have minded the extra shots. I seriously asked Shepard if he could requisition the Black Widow for me, but he came back and told me it would cost too much. Then he goes and gets himself the Wraith which is practically the same price."

"You're telling me." Gwene agreed "My former CO said the exact same thing to me, so you know what I did? I spent five years salary buying my baby here, as well as the modification for it, and there isn't a single regret in doing so. Well, except I don't have a retirement fund any longer."

"_Garrus. Gwene. Look sharp, we are in position, and are waiting for your first shot._" Came Shepard's voice over the comms.

"Copy that, just give us a minute to line up our shots." Garrus replied. "Well, looks like its time to prove my worth, my reputation as Archangel is on the line."

"Alright." Gwene said, looking down the scope of her rifle, looking for the right target. "So who do you think should be our first victim?"

Garrus also looked down his scope, now scanning the mercenaries to see who would make a bigger impact. "Well, how about that one walking past the group there. They see him fall, then they raise the alarm and the panic begins."

"Nice thinking." Gwene said in an agreeable tone "Moving target, who gets to do the honours?"

"Ladies first." Garrus offered.

"Alright, but don't forget our little wager." Gwene said, bringing the crosshairs to rest on the mercs head as the walked. Her finger wrapped around the trigger "And let the games begin." She squeezed the trigger tightly, the heavy Sniper rifle recoiling heavily from the shot, but she bought it under control and readied her next shot.

Garrus watched as the merc they had both targeted was sent flying back by the heavy shot going directly through his skull, he landed in a heap just near the small band if mercs, and as Garrus said, they raised the alarm and began scanning the area for who had just shot their fellow mercenary. "Headshot, very nice."

"That's one, Archangel." Gwene said, finding a new target and squeezing the trigger again, the heavy sniper rifle firing once more. "And that's two." She said as another merc fell to the ground, the shot nearly taking their head clean off.

Garrus wrapped his own finger around the trigger, he found an easy target and squeezed, the rifle firing, and the merc dropping dead before they even hit the ground with a gaping hole in their chest. He ejected the thermal clip and found a new target, repeating the same process and another merc dropping with a gaping hole in their head. "Two down, and so much more to go. These are the days I'm really going to miss when I get old."

"Not bad, but lets see you try and top this." Gwene said. She carefully aimed at a new merc who was in cover, like most of them now were. She found the right angle and squeezed the trigger, letting loose another powerful shot.

Garrus watched as the shot impacted heavily with the thin barricade the merc was hiding behind. "So, where do you think you'll be retiring to?" He asked as he ejected the spent thermal clip.

"Don't know, we'll see when I actually retire." Gwene said with a smirk. The shot had gone clean through the barricade and had killed the merc behind it, that much becoming clear when their body slumped to the ground. She ejected her thermal clip and looked to Garrus for approval.

"Alright, I think it's time I stopped showing off." Garrus said. He found a new target, a merc sniper that had managed to spot them and was carefully taking aim, Garrus could have made the shot easier but he really wanted to show up this human that wouldn't believe he was Archangel. He squeezed the trigger and Garrus' own bullet let fly, straight down the scope of the merc sniper and through their eye, killing them instantly with the headshot.

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

With the first shot from Gwene raining down upon the unknowing merc, it was now time for the air support to loosen them up some more. "Cortez." Shepard said over the comms "Bring down the fire."

"_Copy that, sir. On my way._" Came Cortez's reply.

After a few more deadly shots from the two Snipers, the mercs had began firing at the hillside where the sniper fire came from, and as soon as that had happened, more sniper fire rained down upon the mercs, many dropping as a result. The bunker doors began to open as reinforcements poured out to aid their allies. The sniper fire began to die down when more shots were kitting the hills where they camped. Moments later, the Kodiak flew over top of Shepard's team and began letting loose on the mercs, firing its main guns and causing an uproar. The four AA guns then came to life and began targeting the shuttle.

Shepard became a little worried when he saw them come to life. "Are you sure the AA guns are taken care of?" Shepard asked Bryson as the ground team were already moving in.

"Of course." Bryson replied from inside the Mako. "Just sit back and enjoy the fireworks."

Shepard wasn't sure what he meant by that, but he watched all the same. Just as they were about to fire, for almost no reason, three of them exploded, and the other shut down and was unresponsive. As an extra precaution, Cortez fired at and destroyed the final AA gun. "Sabotage?" He asked Bryson again.

"Gwene tampered with the firing matrix's, so when they fired, they just exploded instead of firing." Bryson put simply.

"Smart. Now, I think it's time we entered that fight. Liara, get a singularity in the middle of the larger groups." Shepard then ordered "Tali, get a defence drone amongst them, and Ashley get some grenades in there. Zaeed, pick off any that try getting too wise."

The three woman set to follow Shepard's orders, Liara's singularity caught some unsuspecting mercs in the weightless dark energy field, they were quickly killed by some accurate shots from Liara's carniflex. Tali's combat drone hovered throughout the battlefield, flushing mercs from out of cover, where they were then picked off by Tali's shotgun or their snipers providing cover fire. Ashley's inferno grenades cut through some of the smaller groups of mercs, and the rest fell victim to her timely shots from her Vindicator. Zaeed was picking off the easier targets with a weapon Shepard never expected to see used again, Jessie, he had managed to revive his formally retired Assault Rifle, but it seems he bought her out if it to finally fulfil the revenge boiling up inside of Zaeed.

It was now Shepard's turn to deal some damage, he spotted some mercs close by who were now turning their weapons towards Shepard's team. He flared up his biotics, keeping his line of sight directly on the merc in front of him, he took a leap forward, but instead of biotically charging at the merc like he was supposed so, he ended up leaping forward a few feet, the surprise at this failed biotic charge caused him to lose his balance and fall onto the ground. Ashley had spotted Shepard's failed attempt at a charge and swiftly leapt over to him and disposed of the mercs with quick bursts from her Vindicator. "What happened?" She swiftly asked, unloading another burst on a wise merc trying to get a pot shot on Shepard.

"I don't know." Shepard replied, he was just as confused as she was, his biotic charge had never failed him yet. He saw a duo begin to take aim at Shepard, he flared up his biotics again and thrust out his left hand, hoping to send a shockwave, and throwing the two mercs from the ground. Again his biotics did nothing and they died down, something wasn't right, he wasn't able to use his biotic abilities. "What the hell is going on!" He couldn't help but yell out of frustration.

Ashley swiftly took care of the mercs bearing down on Shepard and herself. "I don't know, but for now stop trying to use them and shoot something!"

Shepard couldn't help but agree, he pulled his M7 Lancer from his back and quickly set to work. He was very glad he had come across this old rifle in the iridium vaults back on the Citadel, it was still as strong as ever and didn't need thermal clips, but still overheated from too much use. He unleashed a barrage of bullets upon mercs that got too close, but even now with weapons, Shepard felt that something was off, even his aim was questionable.

Cortez was still providing some air support, pushing some stragglers towards the main group that were currently being picked apart by Shepard's ground assault and the Snipers. James opened fire with the Mako canon, catching several of the now outgunned mercs in the fierce explosion. Realising they were outgunned, the mercs called a retreat. "RETREAT!" Yelled out one of the leaders "BACK INTO THE BUNKERS!" At once, the surviving mercs ran to the nearest bunker and sealed themselves inside, the easy part was now over.

When the last merc had made it inside the bunker, Shepard holstered his lancer and began to look around, he wasn't sure of the total number killed, but if he had to guess, they had already taken down a large portion, and now they were split into three.

"Alright." Shepard began "They have retreated underground, so now here is where we split up." He reached up to his helmet and activated the comms "Garrus, Gwene. Get down here, we need you."

"_On our way, Shepard._" Came Garrus' reply.

"Alright, so we know what we have to do here." Shepard began again. "We enter the bunker, and deal with the remainder of the Blue Suns. We spare any that surrender and kill any that attack, got it?" Everyone present nodded in agreement. "Good, as for Vido. Capture if possible, only kill if you have no other choice. Vosque, either way." He turned his attention to Zaeed. "Have any problems with that?"

"So long as I get to put a bullet in that bastards face, I don't care." Zaeed said coldly.

Shepard nodded, Bryson and James had emerged from out of the Mako and had joined Shepard and his team. "Okay. Now Ashley, James and when Garrus arrives, I want you three on that bunker over there." He pointed to the furtherest bunker on the compound. Both Ashley and James nodded in understanding. "Good. Bryson, Liara and Tali, you take the bunker right here." Shepard pointed to the bunker that were all standing beside. All three nodded and moved into position. "And that leave Zaeed, Gwene and myself to deal with the final bunker."

Zaeed gave a short and stiff nod in understanding. "Alright Shepard, but I don't want Vido escaping this time, understand?" He warned "If he get slips away again, you'll be taking his place, we already missed out on him once because of your fucking soft heart."

"Don't you dare..." Ashley said in a very dangerous tone that Shepard had never heard before, it almost made him cringe.

"Or what sweetheart." Zaeed said in his gruff tone, he was clearly challenging Ashley to finish her sentence.

"Enough! Both of you!" Shepard said sharply, standing between the two. "Zaeed. If Vido is here, he isn't going to escape this time, I promise you that, alright?"

"Fine." Zaeed said. "But I meant what I said earlier."

Shepard just dismissed it. "Don't worry, I have a plan. Cortez?"

"Sir?" Came his reply over the comms.

"If anyone but us, or Alliance personnel leave the bunkers, shoot to kill." Shepard said to Cortez.

"_Copy that. They won't know what hit them._"

Shepard looked to Zaeed "See? I have all my basis covered."

A minute later, Garrus and Gwene had regrouped with the rest if the team. "Sorry we're late. Some of us decided to take the scenic route." Garrus said.

"Hey, I'm not the one that wanted to pick all the pretty flowers along the way." Gwene said, both challenging and defending against Garrus' supposed joke.

Everyone chuckled lightly at the banter between the two, even the corners of Zaeed's mouth twitched slightly. "Alright everyone, lets focus." Shepard said, bringing an end to the light laughter. "We all know what we must do, so let's get this done and go home."

"What? No speech this time, loco?" James asked.

"No speech, just some words." Shepard said "There is nothing more dangerous than an enemy pinned against the wall, just do what must be done and we'll see you on the other side."


	9. Chapter 8

_Hello everyone! Well, took me a while to write this one, and for good reason, over 12,00 words this Chapter. No boring life story this time, just me saying I hope you enjoy and please keep the reviews and PMs coming, seriously I'm becoming addicted to these confidence and ego boosters._

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**Mass Effect: Duty Calls**

**Chapter 8 - The Price for Revenge (Part 2)**

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**Ashley's Team**.

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"Copy that, Skipper. We'll get it done." Ashley said, lifting her arm up and saluting. She looked to Garrus and James and nodded toward their bunker. All three then began to walk across the compound to the entrance.

"What do you expect we'll find on the other side of that door?" Garrus couldn't help but ask.

"I'm guessing, an ambush as soon as that door opens they let loose and fire all they have got." James said

"Then we'll let them." Ashley said. "And when they reload, we counterattack. James, you and I will toss in some grenades while Garrus fires some concussive rounds in to flush them from cover, clear?"

"You got it, Ash." Garrus replied, nodding that he understood Ashley's plan of counterattack.

"Copy that." James said, giving the same nod as Garrus.

"Good, because we're already here." Ashley said, nodding to the bunker door. She immediately moved to the doors right while Garrus and James took cover on the doors left. "Alright, I've got the door. Ready?"

"Ready when you are." Garrus said, his Mattock in hand and ready for combat.

"Lets kill these pendejo's!" James answered, ejecting a thermal clip from his Harrier.

Ashley gave them a nod, she activated the doors control panel, and the doors slowly began to open. Catching the three completely by surprise, the doors blew outwards thanks in turn to an explosive rigged to the entrance. The resulting explosion knocked Ashley off her feet and she was thrown hard on to the ground, losing her Vindicator in the process. She managed to pick herself up, but the force of the explosion had left her a little disoriented, she noticed her Vindicator close by and began crawling toward it, she had managed to get a hand onto it, but before she could grip it, a heavy boot came crashing down, crushing her hand and sending waves of pain up her arm. She tried tugging her hand from out under the boot, but to no success, with her spare she tried reaching for her sidearm, but a voice halted her in her tracks.

"I don't think so, sweetheart." Ashley dared to turn her head, she was now looking up the barrel of a mercs rifle. "Time to say goodnight." This was it, she was done for. She shut her eyes, waiting for it all to end, this wasn't how she pictured it would end, she didn't want it to end at all, not with everything that had gone on over the past two days. She felt the weight of the boot leave her crushed hand, she opened one eye, still expecting to see the rifle pointed at her, but there was no rifle, there wasn't even a merc. She looked around and spotted the merc lying on the ground just beside her, a pool of blood oozing out from their helmet and onto the moons surface. Someone had just saved her life, she looked over Garrus and James, thinking that it must have been one of them, but it hadn't been, like her the explosion had knocked them clear of the door and now five mercs had surrounded the two and their weapons were trained on them.

Ashley picked up her Vindicator with her good hand and moved into a kneeling position, she was fairly sure her hand was broken after the merc stood on it, but that wasn't going to stop her, no pain no gain. She trained her rifle on the mercs, taking careful aim. "Hey!" She yelled out, gathering their attention. With a well aimed burst, Ashley managed to drop one of the guards, the rest began reaching for their weapons, but Ashley had already killed another when their became trained on her.

The two remaining never had the chance to fire as James had managed to tackle one into the ground and Garrus had already put a bullet in the other with his pistol. James had managed get the upper hand and with a heavy punch, managed to shatter the visor of the mercs breather, suffocating them from the sudden loss of oxygen. "That was for Blake, you son of a bitch!" He spat.

Ashley had left her kneeling position and walked over to the other two. "You guys doing alright?"

James had held out a hand to help Garrus up. "Fine, guess we were right about that ambush being set up."

Garrus was now standing, thanks in part to James helping him up. "We need to be more careful, they could have traps set up like that as a backup. We're going into their turf now." He leant down and picked up his Mattock he had dropped.

"Good point." Ashley nodded in agreement. "Garrus, you're an expert on this sort of thing, think you can help us out?"

"I'll do what I can, but no promises." Garrus said.

"Alright, lets move in and secure this bunker." Ashley said. "Watch your fire as they may have prisoners."

Ashley, on point, lead her team into the now exposed entrance, as soon as they stepped inside, a kinetic barrier emerged and sealed the gap over the exposure. She lead them down the small hallway that slopped downward, coming to another door, similar to the entrance. Ashely nodded to Garrus to begin investigating the door, they didn't need any more booby traps waiting for them.

Garrus approached the door and activated his omni-tool, he was scanning the door for any signs of any hidden surprises that may come to light."It's clear." Garrus said, shutting off his tool.

"Alright. Same plan as before, got it?" Ashley said, looking at the two. Both Garrus and James nodded, they had their weapons at the ready, Garrus with his Mattock, James with some grenades in his hand, both taking cover on the doors left frame. She activated the door and it opened, she gripped her weapon tightly, waiting for the bullets to begin flying, but none came. Taking a chance, she gently peeked around the side of the door, the room was completely deserted, except for the door along the left side. "It's clear. Lets move."

The three left the safety of covered and entered the next room, taking care to examine every inch of it to avoid a sneak attack or any more traps. Satisfied that the room was clear, they proceeded to the door, taking cover on each side of its frame, after getting the all clear from Garrus, the continued along their way, emerging into a short hallway. They carefully walked through it to the door waiting at the opposing end, swiftly taking cover on either side of the door frame.

"Scanning." Garrus said as he scanned the door with his omni-tool. "Wait, I'm picking something up."

"What is it?" James couldn't help but ask.

"Door charge, definitely big enough to blow the door open and cause some serious damage throughout this corridor." Garrus replied, typing into his tool some more.

"Starve them out?" James suggested.

"No, they would have enough supplies to last for months." Garrus said. "Besides, if there are any Alliance personnel inside they won't last months."

"Dammit." Ashley couldn't help by curse. "Any other ideas?"

James just shrugged and shook his head while Garrus remained quiet as if he were in deep thought. "I do have an idea." He suddenly said.

"Alright, spill." Ashley said simply, eager to hear what he had to say.

"I could hack into the doors controls and bring up the kinetic barriers." Garrus explained "We would be protected from the blast, and it would blow them to hell instead of us."

"Alright, do it." Ashley said. "Vega and I will keep you covered."

"I'm on it." Garrus said, kneeling by the doors control panel and slicing into it with his omni-tool. After a minute of careful hacking, the doors kinetic barrier appeared. "Alright, just open the door and watch the fireworks happen."

Ashley nodded "Alright. Get into position, I'm going to open the door."

James and Garrus shifted back into their cover beside the door, weapons held at the ready, both soldiers itching for a fight. Ashley hugged the wall closely, when she saw the two were in position, she pressed the button that would open the door. Slowly it began to open, the moment it reached a certain point, they watched as an explosion blew the door off and slam into the barrier, instead of blasting through it, it forced the explosion and shrapnel from the battier back on those unlucky enough to be standing close to it. The barrier had taken too much damage and faded away, now giving them a safe entrance, all three stormed through the blown off door and began scanning the area for any sign of the mercs. The mercs that had been standing in ambush had all been killed by the explosion, large pieces of the door sticking from out of their bodies in various places.

The sound of heavy footsteps forced the trio to take cover behind some nearby crates, unsure just how many they would be facing.

"The fuck happened here?" One merc asked.

"The door charge blew, someone must have been trying to get in!" Another merc yelled. "But how did they survive the outer door?"

"What's going on here?" Came a new voice, though this one was definitely sounded human opposed to the Batarian and Turian voices they heard.

"Sir. I think the whoever tried to enter up top is trying to make their way inside." A Turian merc said.

"Obviously. You four stay here and keep your weapons trained on that door, anything moves, kill it. Otherwise you'll be getting spaced with those damned Alliance researchers." The human replied. "Rotate every hour, I want the freshest eyes always at the ready."

The sudden shuffling of many boots on the metal floor sounded as though they had all shifted in a salute. Multiple footsteps could be heard as all that had gathered, dispersed, leaving only four mercs standing guard.

"That Vosque can be a real hardass.

Ashley looked to both Garrus and James had stumbled upon the current leader of the Blue suns, this was a grand opportunity, and it also meant that Vido could be inside the complex as well. "Wait for my go." She said quietly, fortunately it was just helmet to helmet so the mercs wouldn't have been able to hear them anyway.

James nodded and gripped his Hardied tighter, his trigger finger was getting rather itchy. "Copy that." He replied, just as quiet.

"Lets show these mercs bastards whose boss." Garrus said.

Ashley couldn't help but smirk under her helmet, she gave the two a nod and quickly leapt up from behind the crates and fired two bursts at one of the guards, they were caught completely off guard and fell to the ground dead. The other three guards leapt into action, bringing their rifles up to fire upon the three, Garrus fired two accurate shots, bringing another merc down. James held down the trigger of his Harrier and unloaded the entire clip on the final two, the mercs had barely been able to get off a single shot before they had been bought down. The sounds of angry voices and heavy footsteps could be heard moving on their position, the blue suns merc now knew where they were.

Ashley took a kneeling position behind the crates, giving her some more cover. "Garrus! Cover my six, and use some armour piecing rounds, they'll be packing some serious armour."

"On it!" Garrus replied, swiftly activating his omni-tool and modding his ammunition.

"James, use your incendiary ammo and cover both Garrus and I." Ashley then commanded.

"You got it." James replied, using his omni-tool to bring up his incendiary mod.

The first group of guards rounded the corner, and Ashley had just finished modding her own ammunition with disruptor ammo. She let loose some burst from her Vindicator, cutting through their shields while James finished them off with his incendiary. The ones that survived Ashley and James' assault managed to find cover behind some crates and began returning fire, with some of the biotics trying to flush them out from cover. Garrus was managing to hold his own, bringing down many of the un-shielded mercs with headshots from his Mattock, he had to be more crafty with the shielded mercs, a quick burst of his overload and several shots to the chest managed to do the trick. With the mercs now taking cover and constantly returning fire, it made it harder to get any clearer shots, James had quickly sunk behind cover with Ashley and was firing blindly over the top of the makeshift cover. He pulled a grenade from his belt, primed it and tossed it over top of his own cover, it landed and bounced off the mercs crate and exploded.

"Dammit!" James cursed loudly.

Ashley had also pulled a grenade from her own belt, however hers were Inferno Grenades, in addition to exploding, it also set everything in close proximity on fire, it was very useful against armoured foes. "Cover me." She said.

James nodded, he looked up from his own cover and began firing at any mercs he could see, he managed to kill one of them, but the rest had already sunk back behind cover. Ashley then stood up while she was being covered, she took careful aim and lobbed her grenade, it landed just behind the crates the mercs were using for cover. Many saw it land and quickly leapt from the crates, causing them to come into Ashley and James' line of fire. The grenade had exploded killing those too close and setting others on fire, they were quickly put down by Ashley's Vindicator while James had managed to drop those that had fled from cover.

"Shit!" Garrus cursed loudly "How the hell did they get one of those?!"

James saw that Ashley had everything under control, he left his cover to go and join Garrus and see just what had caused the turian to curse loudly. "Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!" Vosque had entered the firefight with his Blue Suns mercs, but he now had control of an Atlas. James looked to Garrus with very annoyed and he looked back with just as much annoyance, they weren't all hard to bring down, they were just annoying as the pilot was constantly shooting missiles and heavy slugs.

"Same plan as usual. You bust it open after I bring down its shields!" Garrus said, firing blindly at the mercs trying to flush them out from cover.

James nodded. "You got it." He put away his Harrier and pulled out his Graal Spike Thrower shotgun. It was very powerful, and could strike enemies at a distance, as opposed to up close like the standard shotgun. He held down the trigger as it began to charge, ready to unleash a powerful and deadly shot.

Vosque's Atlas was moving toward the two slowly, some of the mercs had stopped firing and began cheering.

"Go get em' boss!"

"Show those Alliance assholes what it's like to mess with the Blue Suns!"

"On your ready, Scars!" James said, shifting into a position in which he would be ready strike.

Garrus nodded, he waited until the Atlas drew closer, it was within mere feet when he leapt from cover and fired an Overload burst from his omni-tool. It impacted squarely with the Atlas, unfortunately it wasn't enough, it had only reduced its shields by half. He couldn't help by curse loudly as Vosque fired a middle at Garrus who swiftly leapt behind cover one more as the middle impacted with the ground. He thought it would have done more, giving him a short few seconds to charge up another overload. "My omni-tool needs to cool down, keep him distracted."

"You got it!" James replied, he turned from his cover and carefully aimed his Graal at the Atlas. He let the trigger go and heavy spikes flew out of the barrel at a high velocity, they impacted with the shields dropping them some more, but not by much. The Atlas' they had fought in the past had weaker shields than this one, clearly the mercs had done something to improve its systems. It began to fire heavy slugs at James, forcing him to retreat back into cover. "Dammit! How the hell are we going to bring it down?" He said to Garrus, with whom he was now sharing cover.

"I can fire another overload on its shields." Garrus said, swiftly trying to think of a plan. "It's the best I can think of at the moment, bring it down with bug bites."

James nodded "Alright. I've got your back, lets do this."

Just as the both of them were about to leap out from cover and attack the Atlas, it had rounded the corner of their cover, aiming its weapons down at the both of them. James and Garrus both looked a each other, they had lingered too long and were now caught, they both knew it, and now it was time to suffer the consequences. They could hear a new missile being loaded into the chamber for fire and behind the canopy Vosque had a sadistic smile on his face. Before he was able to fire the missile however, a grenade impacted with the Atlas' back, forcing it to stumble forward slightly, the sadistic smile on Vosque's face had changed to a look of anger as he turned the Atlas around to see who was interfering.

Ashley was now standing in its line of sight, having clearly thrown a grenade of her own. "Hey! You forgot about me!" She yelled, clearly trying to distract it for Garrus and James.

With the Atlas' back now facing Garrus, a plan popped into his head. "Vega. I got an idea, keep me covered."

"Alright, but what..." James began, but before he knew it, Garrus had climbed on top of a crate and leapt onto the back of the Atlas. "What are you doing?! Are you loco or something?"

"Just cover me!" Garrus yelled back as mercs had began firing at Garrus, trying to force him from off the Atlas. The fact that Vosque was now trying to shake him off didn't help things.

James nodded, he turned his shotgun of the mercs and unloaded his clip on them, forcing them back into cover. He swiftly switched back to his Harrier and waited for their counterattack.

Garrus' omni-tool was activated and was currently trying to hack into the Atlas' computer, all he had to do was keep in close proximity so the hacking program could do its work, he thanked the spirits that Tali had upgraded it a week ago. The Atlas was now shaking violently, Garrus wasn't sure how long he would be able to hold on, but he wasn't going to give up. He omni-tool began beeping, it had successfully hacked into the Atlas, which was just as well as Garrus couldn't hold on any longer, he let to and was flung into some smaller crates.

"Garrus!" Ashley couldn't help but yell as she saw the turian crash heavily into some stolen crates just behind the Atlas. She made to run and help him, but Vosque had already turned all his weapons on her, and she was forced to stop, instinctively she raised her Vindicator up in defence, but what good would it do against an Atlas.

"Hah!" Vosque laughed loudly from the canopy. "What good do you think that shitty thing had against this!"

From behind the Atlas, she saw Garrus rise from the broken crates, he appeared to be fine and gave Ashley a thumbs up. "Lets find out." She replied cooly.

Vosque's face twisted back into a sadistic smile "I'm going to enjoy this." He was ready to pull the trigger, his finger ready to let loose a missile. Just as he was about to squeeze the trigger, the canopy opened, leaving a shocked and confused Vosque exposed.

Ashley couldn't help but smile and adjusted her rifle so it now pointed directly at the exposed Vosque. "Me too." She answered. Without hesitation, he squeezed her Vindicator's trigger, letting a burst fly into the open canopy. She turned her attention to Garrus, he had climbed from the broken crates and joined Ashley, she couldn't help but notice he was cradling his left arm. "You alright?" She asked, lowering her weapon and approaching him.

"Just a broken arm, I think." Garrus replied, it was clear in his voice that he was in some pain, but he tried to keep it masked. "Nothing the good Doctor Chakwas can't fix."

"I'm starting to think we take her for granted sometimes." Ashley couldn't help but say, it was a slight joke, but it was true in a way. She looked away from Garrus to the now open Atlas that housed the deceased Vosque.

"Get in." Garrus suddenly said.

"What?" Ashley said, bringing her attention back to Garrus. She knew he had always wanted to use one, and here was his golden opportunity. "What about you? You would do much better in it than I could."

"I won't be able to pilot it with my arm as it is." Garrus said, looking to his damaged arm. "Besides, consider it an engagement present." Ashley looked at Garrus with an inquisitive look, how did he know? "I heard it over the comms before." He answered, spotting her look from behind her helmet.

Ashley couldn't help but smile. "Thank Garrus." Swiftly she leapt into action, climbing up the front of the Atlas, grabbing the dead Vosque and pulling him out of the seat, and taking his place. The canopy shut and all system came back online, she wrapped her hands around the control sticks and began leading it over to James.

When James initially saw the Atlas approaching him, he got quite a shock, but when he saw just who was piloting it, the biggest grin spread across his face. "Yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about!" He couldn't help but yell.

Ashley couldn't help but smirk when she heard James' approval. A major confidence boost spread throughout her when she rounded the corner and saw the looks of the remaining mercs. "Alright, drop your weapons and raise your hands, otherwise you'll suffer the same fate as your boss!" She commanded over the Atlas' speaker.

Many of the mercs looked amongst themselves, they still outnumbered the three, but with the Atlas under their control, the mercs were severely outgunned. Most of the mercs dropped their weapons on the ground and held their hands up in surrender, the rest still had their weapons trained on Ashley in the Atlas.

As a warning, Ashley aimed at the wall and fired loudly, causing some of the mercs to jump as the heavy slug impacted and exploded against the wall. "I won't ask you again, drop your weapons! You have until the count of three. One..." She began, training both weapons upon the mercs. "Two..." Her fingers wrapped heavily around the trigger, ready to follow through with her threat if they didn't listen.

Finally the mercs last thread of courage failed, the remaining bunch threw their weapons down and raised their hands in surrender. It couldn't have been any better than this, Ashley, Garrus and James had successfully captured this complex and managed to kill Vosque.

"Alright. James, move forward and bind them, I'll keep you covered." Ashley said, opening the canopy and training her Vindicator on them.

James nodded and put his Harrier away, he cautiously approached the mercs and began binding their hands. "Make sure you bind them in front of them." Garrus said, standing beside Ashley in the Atlas. "Easier to see if any are going to escape."

James just waved it off, he took some nearby cables and began heavily binding the mercs hands together. It didn't take him long to bind all their hands, now that they weren't going to be a threat anymore, Ashley climbed down out of the Atlas. "Good, now that that is taken care of, lets find their prisoners." She put her Vindicator away and approached one of the mercs. "You. Where did you keep the Alliance personnel?"

The mercs, who appeared to be a Batarian, didn't answer.

"Alright. You want to play hardball, I can do that." Ashley said, pulling out her pistol and training it on the Batarian's knee. "One last time, where are the Alliance personnel?"

"Go to hell!"

Ashley didn't hesitate in pulling the trigger, the bullent embedding deep in the mercs knee. They screamed in pain and fell to the ground, unable to support themselves on one let. "I'm going to ask again, and if you don't answer, I'll move somewhere a little more delicate." She now had her pistol aiming directly at the Batarian's groin.

Before Ashley could answer, the Batarian merc answered, they spilled the beans so quickly it was almost difficult to hear what they were saying. "They're through that other door, down the corridor and to the left!"

"Thank you." Ashley said, in a falsely sweet voice. "See how much easier it is to cooperate?" She looked to another merc standing beside the injured Batarian. "You. Help you friend up and carry him, unless you want a round in the knee?" The merc complied, awkwardly helping the injured merc to their feet, somehow managing to support them with their bound hands. "Alright, Garrus, you and I will go in ahead, James, you keep them moving behind us, any fall behind, kill them."

James nodded. He picked up one of the mercs Assault rifles and fired a couple of rounds into the ceiling. "Alright, you heard the lady, move!"

Ashley and Garrus went on ahead first, the approached the door and entered the long corridor, turning left at the end of it as the merc had said. They approached the door and opened it, stepping inside to find a handful of Alliance personnel, on their knees with their hands behind their heads, two mercs seemed to be lazily guarding them, when they spotted Ashley and Garrus enter, they turned their weapons on them. Fortunately Ashley and Garrus were faster to the draw, both having their pistol trained on them before they fell into the mercs line of sight.

"Drop your weapons!" Ashley warned, her pistol ready to fire on one of the mercs. "Now!" Both mercs complied, dropping their rifles to the floor and holding their hands up in surrender. "Get in that corner and face the wall!" Both mercs complied without question, standing in the corner Ashley mentioned and facing it. "Garrus, keep them covered."

Garrus nodded "Alright." He bad arm hanging limp at his side, fortunately it wasn't his good arm and he could easily use a pistol.

One of the captured Alliance soldiers stood up and approached Ashley. "You Alliance?" They asked.

Ashley nodded. "I'm Commander Ashley Williams of the Alliance. We were sent here to deal with the Blue Suns after we found out they had captured the facility."

Many of the other personnel seemed to relax and stood also. A genuine look of relief spread across the soldiers face. "Thank you, thank you all so much for saving us."

Ashley nodded once more. "Glad we could help. We managed to capture the remaining mercs, but we need to get topside and check in with out other teams. Do you think you can watch the prisoners until the Alliance arrives?"

The soldier nodded and saluted. "Aye ma'am. We can take care of things."

"Alright." Ashley said, the captured mercs James had been leading now entered the room. "Grab their weapons and keep them all covered. Help will be here soon."

"Of course, ma'am." The soldier nodded in understanding. "And again, thanks for saving us."

Ashley nodded as she watched some of the Alliance personnel grab the mercs weapons and keep them covered. "They have it under control, lets get out of here and see how the others are doing." Ashley said to James and Garrus.

Both of them nodded and left the room, leaving the prisoners in the capable hands of the rescued Alliance personnel. They walked through the main room of the complex, stepping over the dead mercs as they made their way through, Ashley could have sworn she saw Garrus pay the empty Atlas a look and mutter "Next time."

The three stepped back outside, onto the moons surface, they made their way back to the mako that was still parked near one of the complex entrances. It didn't take them long to reach it, they spotted two figures emerging from the mako. On closer inspection it had been Colonel Bryson and Tali that had exited.

Upon meeting up with Bryson, James stood to salute the Colonel. "Sir. Mission completed."

Bryson nodded "Good work, Vega. You don't seem too banged up." He turned his attention to Ashley. "Commander Williams. How did the LC do back there?"

Ashley paid James a quick look, and noticed he was staring at her intently, hoping the next words out of her mouth were in his favour. "His performance was spectacular as always. He followed his orders well and saved both Garrus and I multiple times." She had sugar-coated it for James' benefit, she noticed the slight look of relief was over him.

Bryson then looked over to Garrus, now being tended to by Tali. "Really? And how exactly did you injure yourself?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, well I leapt on the back of an Atlas and it threw me off." Garrus replied, feeling a little down as he wasn't usually a casualty like this.

"You what?!" Tali almost yelled. "Kee'lah, why did you do something so reckless?"

"Well, Shepard wasn't around so I thought I better pick up the slack." Garrus answered.

Everyone couldn't help but chuckle, even Bryson was smiling beneath his helmet.

However, an observation from Ashley immediately stopped the banter. "Wait a minute, where's Liara?"

All eyes immediately fell to the Colonel, he had a concerned look in his eyes. Something terrible had happened to Liara, Ashley knew it.

* * *

**Bryson's Team**

* * *

"You got it, Shepard." Bryson answered. He looked to both Liara and Tali as they had both joined him while the rest split into their teams and set off toward their own objectives. "Alright. Shepard seems to have a lot of confidence in you two, do you think you will be able to follow my order as they are given?"

"Of course, Colonel." Liara nodded, giving him a smile. "Shepard seems to trust you, so I do too."

"Seconded." Tali said simply.

"Excellent. Then we should get through this without a hitch." Bryson said. "I haven't worked with an Asari or Quarian before, so this will be interesting. I apologise in advance if my orders are too much for you to handle." He knew Asari were powerful biotics, and he had worked with some biotics in the past, but this would be different something in Liara's blue eyes told him she knew just what she was doing. As for Quarians, he knew they were technological experts, and if the mercs had set any traps for them, Tali's skill would be perfect.

"We've worked with Shepard on and off for the past four years, I think we can handle another just like him." Tali said in a joking manner.

Bryson nodded "Alright, before we enter, I need you to tell me just what you can do, combat wise."

"As you know, Asari are naturally biotic." Liara began. "I can lay down some Biotic fields and use some for more offensive purposes." She reached to her hip and took ahold of her pistol, it appeared to be a Carniflex, a very powerful pistol. "I have a preference for a pistol over anything else, but I have used an SMG from time to time. She patted the Locust on her opposing hip.

Bryson nodded and looked to Tali who had already begun her explanation. "I'm a tech. I can set up combat drone for offensive or defensive purposes, I can also hack or sabotage anything that gets in our way."

Bryson's eyes fell to her weapons, she carried a standard Predator pistol, but what surprised him was the shotgun she carried, it looked like a Geth shotgun. "Alright. Thank you, you two. Now, lets move."

Liara nodded and began following, she couldn't help but study the Colonel as well, he seemed to be a standard soldier. But most soldiers carried an Assault Rifle and Pistol, the Colonel seemed to have a whole arsenal on his back, each holster held a weapon, he even had a grenade launcher, just what was he expecting to run into? "I must say, Colonel." Liara began "You're definitely well equipped for this mission."

"It pays to be prepared." Bryson replied, now approaching the entrance to the bunker. "This feels a little too easy." He couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"Sorry?" Tali asked, appearing at Bryson's side.

"The mercenary bastards retreated into these bunkers without hesitation." Bryson said. "They will have had enough time to rig up traps for unexpected visitors, like us."

Liara didn't say anything, she felt as though he might have been over analysing the situation, but in a way, what he said did make sense. Fortunately, Tali used the same words Liara was about to ask. "Alright, say they did lay some traps. What do we do about them?"

"Tali." Bryson began. "You're a tech, can you scan for anything out of the ordinary? Try this door."

Tali nodded. "I can. Just give me a moment." She activated her omni-tool and in mere seconds had scanned the door. "Well, you weren't wrong. There is an explosive charge set on the other side of this door, set to blow outward should any open the door from the outside."

"Can you disable it?" Bryson asked simply.

"Of course I can, give me a few seconds." Tali said as she know knelt in front of the door, typing into her tool.

"Liara. Radio that Commander Williams, tell them about possible traps set up to discourage their entrance inside." Bryson said. "I'll get ahold of Shepard."

Liara nodded. She opened up comms to Ashley, however before she could say anything an explosion ripped through the air. All three left the door and went around the bunker to see what had happened, from what Liara could see, the bunker Ashley and her team were trying to enter had its door ripped open by the very same trap they had been trying to disable. She looked over to see that Garrus, James and Ashley had managed to survive the blast, but now mercs had exited and had their weapons trained on them, ready to kill. "We have to help them!" Liara yelled. She and Tali began to run, but a loud gunshot stopped them in their tracks and they saw the merc that had pinned Ashley drop from a deadly accurate headshot.

The two of them looked over to see who had fired, they saw that Gwene and Shepard had left their own bunker door, with Gwene firing the deadly shot from her Sniper Rifle. When they turned to look back, they noticed that Ashley had already taken control of the situation, they were safe. "Kee'lah." Tali couldn't help but sigh. "That could have happened to us."

"Alright. We have a job to do, so lets get it done." Bryson said sharply, bringing the two back into focus. They walked back around to the door and Tali resumed her hack.

Liara herself was quite relieved that Ashley, James and Garrus were safe, they were her friends and allies, and she never liked losing either. Losing so many people in so few a years had taken its toll on the good doctor, loss after loss saw her begin to lose her cheerful personality and soon be taken over by a much darker and ruthless character. Losing her mother Benezia on Noveria had struck such a crippling blow, all that she had suspected of her turned out to be false, even a powerful matriarch such as herself couldn't fully fight off the indoctrination of Sovereign, she had died in her arms after managing to stave off its influence long enough to help Shepard take one step closer to stopping Saren. Not long after, she lost a good friend, someone she was just beginning to build a good rapport with, Kaiden had sacrificed himself to make sure the nuke the STG group had crafted would go off, and destroy Saren's facility on Virmire, it had struck another crippling blow. The final straw had been after she learned that Shepard had died when the first Normandy had been destroyed by the Collectors, from that point on, Liara became a changed Asari.

She was shaken from her thoughts when Tali spoke "Okay, I got it. We should be able to open the door without it blowing out on us."

"Alright." Bryson nodded, he wasn't usually like Shepard who praised the good efforts of others work, it was business as usual and the job needed to be done. "Tali, you take point and continue scanning for any traps that might be lying in wait. Liara and I will cover you." He had pulled a Valkyrie from his back and held it at the ready.

"Copy that." Tali nodded. She pressed a button in the doors control panel, it hissed loudly and slowly began to open. The door had opened, and just as Tali began to walk through the entrance, she was meet with flying bullets, she felt a strong grip on her arm as it pulled her from harms way. Bryson had managed to save her from a suit puncture, or worse, but he didn't have a concerned look on his face, rather one with slight annoyance.

"Check your corners first." Bryson said, a little harshly.

"Right." Tali said a little cooly, pulling her arm from his grip, she was beginning to like the Colonel less and less.

Bryson had moved into a position to return fire, he was about to leap out from cover and begin the counterattack, but another idea came to mind. "Liara. Can you use a Singularity?" He asked, he remembered a human biotic he had worked with in the past could create one.

Liara nodded. "Yes. Where do you want it."

"Put it right in the middle of them." Bryson said. "I'll cover you. Go!" Bryson leapt from cover and began unloading two round bursts at the mercs camping down the hallway, many sunk beneath cover, while the rest continued to keep firing.

Liara began to become engulfed in the dark energy, she emerged from her cover and threw a biotic ball down at the mercs, when in the right position she opened up her hand causing the biotic ball to rapidly expand and create a weightless environment within its event horizon. All the mercs were caught completely off guard as they were picked up off the ground and began floating helplessly around. Before Bryson could fire another shot, Liara had already thrown a biotic warp into the middle of the Singularity, causing the two strong biotic powers to explode, vaporising all the mercs trapped in the Singularity.

Bryson looked sideways at her with a raised eyebrow, she had managed to single handedly clear the way forward, without even breaking a sweat, if any she looked calm and relaxed while she stared back at the Colonel, looking for any signs of approval. "That was... Well, good job. Lets get moving." He said, still impressed by the power that a biotic could hold.

Liara couldn't help but smile slightly. "Thank you, Colonel."

Tali walked past Liara and the Colonel, taking point as per his plan, but she couldn't help but whisper something Liara as she stepped past her. "Well, now we know who the favourite is." She continued to walk down the hallway, constantly scanning, nothing came up until she reached the door. "I'm picking up some readings from the next room."

"Can you tell when it is?" Bryson asked.

"It's something Chemical, I'll need another minute to identify what it is." Tali said, pressing more keys on her omni-tool. Shortly the readings came to her tool. "Kee'lah. It's Minagen X3."

"Minagen?" Bryson asked. "It sounds familiar."

"It's a highly illegal chemical." Liara began. "If ingested, it can greatly improve a biotics abilities for a short time, but if taken in large does, it can kill."

"What about non-biotics?" Bryson couldn't help but ask.

"It is still just as dangerous." Liara said. "Prolonged exposure will slowly kill you."

"Damn. This complicates matters." Bryson said.

"Not really." Tali said. "The readings are all contained in certain areas. If we avoid them, we should be able to move on."

"Alright." Bryson nodded. "Lets get moving."

Tali nodded, she opened the door into the next room, the whole thing seemed to be filled with crates varying in sizes, some nearby tanks caught their attention. "The readings are stronger over by those tanks. The chemical must be inside them."

"All the same, lets avoid them." Bryson said, moving closely beside Tali. "Are you scans picking up any more merc traps?"

"I can't get an accurate reading, that chemical is messing with my omni-tool sensors." Tali replied.

"Looks like we do this the old fashioned way." Bryson said. "Think you can disable the power to the door?"

"Sure, but just what are you planning to do?" Tali asked as she knelt down to the doors maintenance panel.

"Force the door open." Bryson said. "Hopefully, if there are any traps set, we won't activate them."

"Hopefully?" Tali couldn't help but say. "Forgive me if that doesn't inspire confidence." She continued to slice the maintenance panel, several sparks of electricity later, Tali stood up from the panel. "Power is off to the door. I hope what you are about to do next works."

"It will. Stand back." Bryson said as he put his Valkyrie away and approached the door. He managed to find a solid grip and slowly began to force the doors apart, eventually he had enough room to be able to poke his head through and see what was waiting for them. He managed to spot two turrets pointed directly at the door he had been forcing open, with a target now in front of them they began to open fire, forcing the Colonel to pull his head back through the gap to avoid the flying bullets, in the swiftness of pulling his head back through, he lost his balance and fell onto his rear.

Tali couldn't help but smirk beneath her helmet. "I take it you found the trap they set for us?" She asked, now standing above him with her arms folded.

"More or less." Bryson couldn't help but grumble. "Turrets. Both pointing this way."

"Alright, I think I can handle this." Tali said, holding a hand down to help the Colonel to his feet.

"How?" Bryson asked, taking Tali's hand and purloin himself up with her help.

"Aren't you forgetting, I'm a tech." Tali said in a slightly cocky attitude, it was now her turn to show off to the Colonel. She approached the door and peered through to see the two turrets, both weapons pointing directly at them. She activated her omni-tool and began typing on its holographic interface, she then angled it through the door and a tech burst fired at the right turret, impacting with it and causing it to glow orange. Tali pushed some more keys on her tool, and soon after the turret turned away from the door and immediately began firing upon the other turret, destroying it. Upon the turrets successful friendly fire, it self destructed, now Tali looked to Bryson who had been watching beside her. "See? No problem."

Bryson couldn't help but chuckle lightly, something he never really did while on missions, he always put business before pleasure, but Shepard's crew were a good bunch, it's no wonder he was able to accomplish so much. "Alright, you did a good job, Tali."

"Thank you, Colonel." Tali said, gracious at his approval. That initial dislike of the Colonel was quickly beginning to fade away.

"Now, we have a job to do." Bryson said. He gripped the doors tightly and began to force them open more again, it took a great deal to force the heavy steel of the doors, but he got it enough for them all to climb through.

They all walked down the short corridor to the door that awaited them at the end, Tali constantly scanning with her omni-tool for anything out of the ordinary. She scanned the door, and couldn't help but curse loudly. "Kee'lah! There is more of that chemical in the next room, I can't get an accurate scan on the door."

"You know, I do have an idea about that." Liara said.

"Oh?" Bryson voiced, looking to Liara.

"I could erect a biotic barrier over this side of the door." Liara explained. "If there is anything waiting to catch us off guard, the barrier will protect us. Maybe."

"Maybe?" Bryson asked.

"Yes, if there is another explosive charge like on the first door, I won't be able to keep it all contained." Liara said. "I could force some of it back, but not all of it."

Bryson nodded. "Alright, it's the best plan we've got. If it gets too much for you to handle, drop your barrier and drop to the floor, understand?"

Liara nodded. "Okay. Wish me luck." Her body began to become engulfed in the dark energy once again, she stuck a leg behind her to brace herself and held her hands out in front of her, immediately a biotic barrier appeared and covered the door.

"Tali, get the door and stay in cover." Bryson said, taking cover on the opposite side of the door frame, his Crusader shotgun now out in his hands.

Tali nodded, immediately she hit the button for the door and swiftly took cover. The door opened smoothly and it appeared there were no traps waiting for them. Liara bought down her biotic barrier and pulled out her Carniflex as Bryson moved in, followed closely by Tali. Their initial search of the room showed it to be empty of all life, there were plenty of crates and tanks laying around, but none showed any sign of immediate danger.

"Alright, this room seems to be clear." Bryson said. "Lets move to the other door, but stay frosty."

"Frosty?" Liara couldn't help but ask, oblivious to the human term.

"Military term to be ready for anything." Bryson replied, constantly scanning the room with his eyes as they made their way through the centre.

"I see." Liara said. "Well, at least I'm not as bad as..." She began, but her words were cut off as a large kinetic barrier erected itself around the large portion of the room they had just walked into. They were trapped.

"Shit!" Bryson couldn't help but curse loudly. "How the hell did we miss this?"

"The chemicals were interfering with my scans, I didn't know this was here." Tali said in her defence.

Bryson couldn't help but growl, he should have know better than to walk through the centre of the room, but he wanted to avoid going near the tanks. "Can you see a control console anywhere?" He asked.

Tali was frantically looking around, hoping there would be one nearby, but it was Liara that spotted it first. "There! Over by the door." She pointed to the door they had been walking toward.

"Good spotting." Bryson said. "Tali, can you hack it?"

"Yes, give me a minute." Tali said, activating her omni-tool and trying to pick up its frequency. "I need to get closer, the chemicals are making it hard to hack into it."

Bryson made to answer, but the door beside the console opened up and 5 mercs poured out, closely followed by a Krogan, who appeared to be their CO by the look of the heavy armour they wore, all merc leaders wore the best and used the best weapons.

"Get those tanks ready!" The Krogan commander barked. The mercs went to gather the tanks while the Krogan approached the kinetic barrier closest to the three. "Well, it seems I've caught some pyjack in my trap, how... Entertaining."

Bryson left the two and approached the barrier as well, standing mere feet from the Krogan with the barrier in between. "Let down these shields and I'll show you just how entertaining we really are."

The Krogan began to falsely laugh. "You've got a quad, human, and I would love to show you what true pain is, but I've been ordered to deal with you quickly." He looked to the tanks of the Minagen the mercs had bought over to the barrier. "Beautiful stuff, I can't wait to see what it does to you when we expose it to you."

"You, what?" Bryson yelled. They were trapped with nowhere to go, and by adding that powerful drug into their midst, they wouldn't survive long.

"Hah, is that fear?" The Krogan laughed again. "Good, you should be afraid, I've heard what this can do, and I'm eager to see what happens."

"Yeah, so we've already heard." Bryson said through gritted teeth. He turned his back on the Krogan and faced Tali, speaking quietly. "Get close to that console drop these shields. Liara and I will cover you."

Tali nodded. She quickly moved to the shield wall closest to the console and began playing with her omni-tool.

"Liara. Can you make another biotic barrier and protect all three of us from the Minagen while Tali hacks?" Bryson asked.

"Yes, but not for long." Liara admitted.

"It's the best plan we've got right now, I trust you. Both of you." Bryson said.

Liara nodded, again she became engulfed in biotic power and erected a biotic dome around the three that would keep them safe for a short time.

"Get those tanks inside the barrier now, and stop that suit rat from hacking the console!" The Krogan ordered. The mercs throw some of the tanks through the kinetic barrier, causing them to rupture and the red chemical was released into the air inside the barrier. An engineer had gone to the console and began inputting commands to keep Tali out.

Things were looking grim for the three, their plan was rapidly being piled with obstacles, but none of them were about to give up.

"Tali. How's the hack coming?" Bryson asked, noticing Liara's barrier was becoming weaker.

"I almost..." Tali began, but soon after began cursing in every word in the Quarian language. "That bosh'tet changed the command codes for the shields."

"What about the power? Can you shut all power to the complex?" Bryson asked, keeping his Crusader trained on a merc who was pacing and watching them from behind their helmet.

"I'll try." Tali said, now beginning to try out the Colonel's new plan.

"Liara, how are you holding up?" Bryson asked.

"I... I'm fine." Liara struggled to say, she was beginning to feel the fatigue slowly wash over her from maintaining the barrier for so long.

Bryan watched as the barrier decreased in size and strength. "Just a little longer, Liara. You can do this."

"I... can..." Liara managed to say. The barrier flickered slightly and a small amount of Minagen managed to seep inside the barrier. It floated through the air and made contact with Liara, the effects were immediate, her biotics became significantly stronger and the barrier expanded and once again became strong.

"Liara, are you alright?" Bryson asked with concern, he noticed the Minagen make contact with her but was too late to stop it.

"I'm fine." Liara said normally, she wasn't strained any longer and appeared to be back to full strength again.

Bryson nodded, but his concerned look remained. "Tali." He said, now looking to the Quarian. "How are we looking?"

"I'm in." Tali said. "Just give the order and I'll shut down the power."

"Alright, this is what we are going to do." Bryson said in a quiet voice so they weren't able to be heard. "When I say go, Tali shut off the power, hopefully it should drop the shields. When that happens, Liara drop the barrier and quickly get away from the Minagen, Tali, you get to that console and bring the systems back online and open all the doors leading out of the complex, it should create a vacuum and get rid of some of this Minagen for us."

"Alright, I understand." Tali nodded, ready to begin the Colonel's plan of action.

"If it helps, I can turn the barrier into a shockwave and force the Minagen away from us." Liara said, still feeling strong thanks to the small dose of Minagen that she recieved.

"Alright, do it." Bryson nodded. He looked around at all the mercs that all had their eyes on them, he then looked to the Krogan commander who had a wicked smile on his face, he seemed to be enjoying this. What struck Bryson as odd was that the Blue Suns had a Krogan working for them, usually they were made up of Turians, Batarians and Humans. He shook it off and was ready to enact their plan. "Alright. Ready, go!"

Immediately Tali punched in a few keys on her tool, and shortly after the power around the complex turned off, lights, life support, artificial gravity and the kinetic barriers that had Bryson's teams surrounded. The only light came from Liara's biotic barrier, as she had said, she thrust out her hands and the barrier rapidly expanded and forced the Minagen away from the three. The barrier dropped and Liara swiftly leapt away from the Minagen and managed to lose control with the loss of gravity and crashed into the wall. Tali had managed to get to the console, and killing the engineer with a swift blast from her shotgun, she began typing commands into the console, hoping to bring systems back online. Bryson had activated his mag boots and was now taking advantage of the low gravity disorienting the mercs, even with little light, he managed to kill three of the mercs with his Crusader, the surviving merc and Krogan commander began returning fire forcing Bryson behind some nearby crates for cover.

"Systems are coming back online!" Tali announced, having finished typing into the command console. Soon the lights and artificial gravity came back online, life support soon followed along with the kinetic barriers.

"Get those doors open and vent the room!" Bryson yelled, now engaged in a serious firefight with the remaining merc and Krogan.

Tali began typing into the console once more, ignoring some of the shots impacting all around her. "Alright, grab ahold of something!" Tali said. She spotted Liara grab ahold of a nearby railing, without hesitation she pressed the final key on the console and swiftly braced herself.

Immediately the kinetic barrier surrounding the centre of the room dropped and the door over the other side of the room opened. A vacuum was created and everything that was securely fastened was sucked out, many crates flew toward the door, those too big to fit through broke apart and were sucked out into the void of space. Bryson was securely fastened to the floor thanks in part to his mag boots, he watched as his cover was sucked into the vacuum leaving him exposed. The Krogan had managed to grab onto a nearby railing, keeping themselves for being sucked outside, the other merc wasn't so lucky, he was holding onto the Krogan for dear life. Now was a good a chance as any, Bryson aimed his Crusader at the two and fired, he had intended to hit the Krogan, forcing the two to be sucked away, but his aim was off and he managed to hit the merc squarely in the chest, killing them. The sensation of the vacuum stopped immediately, kinetic barriers erected themselves over the doors and everything stopped moving.

Bryson immediately looked over to Tali and Liara and a wave of relief spread through him as he saw they were both safe. "You two alright?" He asked.

"I'm fine." Tali said, picking herself up from the ground.

"I think I'll live." Liara said as she too got to her feet.

Bryson nodded at the both of them and turned his attention back to the Krogan, who he noticed was now standing and facing the Colonel, a fierce and angry look on their face, they were ready for a fight, and so was Bryson. He immediately trained his shotgun on the Krogan, but he was too slow to the punch, the Krogan had thrust their hand out and a biotic shockwave flew out and caught Bryson completely off guard and threw him off his feet. Seeing the Colonel was in trouble, Tali leapt into action, she drew out her shotgun and began firing on the biotic Krogan, all her shots impacted with the Krogan's shields. The Krogan tapped into their biotics once more and trained them on Tali, managing to pick her up with ease, with a swipe of its beefy hand, it sen the helpless Quarian flying through the air and landing in a heap over the other side of the room. This was no ordinary Krogan, it was a Krogan Battlemaster.

Bryson had gotten back to his feet, he managed to gather his Crusader and began to charge at the Krogan, deciding a close quarters fight would help him to avoid its biotics. The Krogan noticed his approach and began to charge at Bryson also, when the two came close to making contact, the Krogan dropped its shoulder and intended to ram Bryson, noticing the change Bryson swiftly rolled to the side, avoiding what would have been a very heavy blow. Taking advantage of getting behind the Krogan, Bryson began firing his Crusader at the exposed Krogan, bu his shots just bounced off its shields. The Krogan turned to face Bryson, a fierce bloodlust now burning brightly in its eyes, it tapped into its biotics once more and three another shockwave at Bryson. Before it hit the Colonel, a biotic barrier emerged in front of him, stopping the shockwave.

"I'm here to help, Colonel." Liara said, now appearing at Bryson's side, glowing blue from her own biotics.

Bryson nodded. "Glad you're here." He ejected his thermal clip having wasted it on the Krogan's shields. "Think you can match his biotics? They seem pretty strong."

"I'll do all I can, but the both of us can take him down, together." Liara said, giving Bryson a quick nod.

Bryson nodded in understanding, he looked over Liara's shoulder to see Tali still on the floor, she must have been knocked out cold. "Keep him distracted, I'll try move in close and bring down his shields."

Liara nodded. "Just try to be quick about it, I don't know how long I'll be able to keep him distracted."

"Lets do this." Bryson said, once again, he began to charge the Battlemaster.

The Krogan again tapped into their biotics and caught Bryson in a field, lifting him up with the intention of throwing him. Before he could, a powerful warp impacted with the Krogan, breaking its concentration and dropping Bryson who managed to landed on his feet and continue charging. He shifted his grip on the Crusader, he intended to use it as a blunt weapon, when he managed to slip by the Krogan's defences he threw the butt of his gun as hard as he could across the Krogan's face. The force caused the Krogan to stumble back, and grunt in pain as it regained its composure, it now stared death at Bryson, it roared loudly and threw a heavy fist at the Colonel. Bryson was barely able to avoid the heavy hit, and saw as it smashed into the wall that had been behind him, warping the hard metal with a sickening screeching and leaving a heavy imprint on its surface. He knew Krogan were strong, but he had never fought one in hand to hand combat before, and if he wasn't careful that hit would have taken his head off.

The Krogan roared again and threw another fist at Bryson, again he barely managed to avoid the heavy blow, he counterattacked by putting some distance between the two and unloading his Crusader on the exposed Krogan. Finally the shield could take no more and it dropped, now the two could begin to cause some real damage. Bryson swiftly ejected the spent thermal clip and fired at the Krogan once more, with one hand it created a biotic shield which took all the shotgun slugs with ease, it released the barrier and with its other hand, throw a heavy shockwave at Bryson. Liara had tried to create another barrier to protect the Colonel, but wasn't quick enough and watched as he was helplessly thrown. Liara watched as Bryson crashed onto the floor just in front of her, she knelt down to help him up. "We just need to keep this up, his biotics must beginning to wear down."

"So long as I avoid those fists of his." Bryson said, standing up with Liara's support. He was about to say something else but he saw as the Krogan was now charging at the two, dropping its shoulder to cause more damage. Swiftly Bryson pushed Liara to the side and leapt away, both barely avoiding getting knocked down by the Krogan. It skidded to a halt and turned to face Bryson, it became engulfed in biotics once more, before he could even react, the Krogan was now flying toward Bryson in a blue blur, next thing he knew he felt a fierce pain as the Krogan emerged from its biotic charge and sent the helpless Colonel flying backwards.

Bryson crashed hard onto the floor, but the momentum of the hit caused him to flip over and land on his front. With a heavy grunt of pain, Bryson slowly picked himself up off the cold floor only to notice a shotgun was now pointing directly at his face. A victorious smile was now on the Krogan's face. "You put up a good fight, human. But it ends here."

Bryson shut his eyes, this was it, it would all end here. He had tried his best, and failed, the Battlemaster was just far too much for him to handle. He heard the trigger being pulled and the shotgun discharging, he waited for the swift pain that would follow, but it never came. He heard the Krogan curse loudly and slowly opened his eyes, he saw that he was surrounded by a biotic barrier, and a very strong one from what he could see. Bryson looked past the Krogan to see that Liara was holding her hand out toward Bryson, but something was different about her, her eyes were glowing a fierce white and her biotics were flaring wildly like fire, where had this newfound conditioning come from? It was then a powerful surge of guilt washed through Bryson, he had shoved Liara into a large exposure of Minagen, the barrier had saved his life, but at a terrible cost.

With Liara's biotics now severely overcharged, she began to take the offensive, she threw shockwave after shockwave at the Krogan, forcing it on the defensive. It tried many times to create a barrier to stop the shockwave, but it best it's defended and began to cut away at its armour. Seeing that the end was near, Liara balled her hand into a fist which became engulfed in a bright white light, it pulsated wildly and when she was ready she threw it as hard as she could at the Krogan. It flew at a rapid pace at the Battlemaster, it tried to dodge the fierce biotic attack, but wasn't quick enough and it impacted squarely against the Krogan's chest, a large flare cut through the room, blinding Bryson in a white light. All fell deathly silent, Bryson could hear the sound of his own heartbeat which was besting rapidly, spreading the adrenaline through his system, taking a chance, he opened his eyes, trying getting a bearing but the blind spots kept flashing in his eyes. Slowly they faded away and he was able to see clearly again, he looked over to where the Krogan had been, but there wasn't anything there, whatever had happened, it had been vaporised. He turned his attention to Liara who biotics were still flaring wildly. "Liara? Are... Are you okay?" He asked a little timidly, never had he seen such a show of power before.

Slowly, Liara's biotics began to fade, leaving just her standing there, she looked completely exhausted. "I... I feel... faint." She said quietly. Almost immediately, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her knees buckled as she collapsed onto the floor.

"Liara!" Bryson ignored the pain in his gut and swooped to her side. Immediately he bought his index and middle fingers just beneath her neck, hoping to feel a pulse but he wasn't overly sure of an Asari anatomy. Immeasurable waves of relief spread through him when he felt a constant throbbing, it was a pulse, he was sure of it. Whatever she had done had taken everything out of her system, leaving her utterly exhausted, but all this wouldn't have happened if he had just been careful.

He began to hear a loud groaning from over the far side of the room, he looked over to see that Tali was beginning to come around. She sat up and looked around, trying to figure out what had happened, she couldn't figure it out for herself so she asked. "What happened?" She called over.

"I'll explain later." Bryson said. He picked up Liara, bridal style and began to carry her toward the door. "I need to get her topside."

"Liara!" Tali couldn't help but yell in shock, she swiftly got to her feet and ran over to Bryson. "What happened? Is she okay?"

"She's alive." Bryson said, beginning to walk toward the exit. "She just passed out."

Tali was almost having to run to keep up with Bryson's pace, he carried the unconscious Liara out of the complex and safely into the Mako. He gently lay her down on a makeshift bed, making sure she was comfortable, Tali eagerly watching, hoping to help out in any way. "Lets leave her to rest." Bryson said quietly.

Tali nodded and the two exited the Mako, leaving Liara to rest. As soon as the canopy had shut, Tali turned to face the Colonel and find out just what had happened to Liara, but she was cut off by the reappearance of James.

"Sir. Mission completed." James said.

Bryson was surprised at their sudden reappesrance, but he ended up nodding "Good work, Vega. You don't seem too banged up." He now looked to Ashley who had also returned with Vega. "Commander Williams. How did the LC do back there?"

He watched as she paid Vega a quick look and noticed the concerned look in his eyes, he looked back to Ashley when she began to speak. "His performance was spectacular as always. He followed his orders well and saved both Garrus and I multiple times." Bryson wasn't surprised, he knew Vega was a good soldier, but something told him that the Commander had just told him what he wanted to hear.

Bryson then looked over to Garrus, now being tended to by Tali and noticed how banged up he was. "Really? And how exactly did you injure yourself?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, well I leapt on the back of an Atlas and it threw me off." Garrus replied, feeling a little down as he wasn't usually a casualty like this.

"You what?!" Tali almost yelled. "Kee'lah, why did you do something so reckless?"

"Well, Shepard wasn't around so I thought I better pick up the slack." Garrus answered.

Everyone couldn't help but chuckle, even Bryson was smiling beneath his helmet, to say Shepard was reckless was an understatement. He knew how much of an adrenaline junkie he was, he loved the danger, but at the same time understood how to remain professional.

"Wait a minute, where's Liara?" Ashley suddenly asked.

All eyes immediately fell to the Colonel, he had a concerned look in his eyes. He looked up to see in Ashley's, James' and Garrus' eyes that they would hear the worst of news, fortunately it wasn't the case. "Liara is fine, she is currently resting in the Mako. She passed out while we were down in the complex."

"What?" Ashley said, now looking at Bryson with disbelief. "What happened down there?"

"Liara and I were fighting a Krogan, a Battlemaster I think." Bryson began. "He was far too strong for the both of us, at some point he charged at the both of us, I shoved her out of the way, but it had been into an exposed tank of Minagen."

Tali couldn't help but gasp loudly, even Ashley had a worried look on her face. "Minagen? What the hell are the blue suns doing with the stuff?" Garrus asked, concern in his voice.

"I don't know." Bryson couldn't help but shrug.

"But what happened to Liara?" Ashley asked loudly, trying to draw everyone attention back to the topic of what happened to Liara.

"Right, sorry." Bryson said. "The Krogan had me on the ropes and was about to kill me, but Liara leapt in and saved my life. She used the extra biotic power and... Well, vaporised the Krogan with ease."

"How?" Garrus asked. "I didn't think she would be capable of something like that."

"I don't know." Bryson said. "She throws this biotic power at the Krogan and it did... Something. It created a powerful flare that blinded me and killed the Krogan. Whatever it had been, it was very strong. Afterward, she just collapsed."

The two teams fell into silence, going over what they had just been told, Tali had gone very quiet while Ashley had begun to start pacing. Garrus and James had both folded their arms, both appearing to be deep thought. There was nothing any of them could do until the return of Shepard's team.

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_Yeah... I was really hoping to have the whole thing finished this Chapter, but I guess I got carried away... Again... But anywho, find out what happens with Shepard's team, next Chapter._


	10. Chapter 9

_Hello all! My sincerest apologies this Chapter took so long to write and upload, I've just been a bit sidetracked so I didn't write as often as I should have. Anywho, no boring spoilers here, I'll continue this down the bottom._

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**Mass Effect: Duty Calls**

**Chapter 9 - The Price for Revenge (Part 3)**

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**Shepard's Team.**

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Shepard watched as the two teams made their way to their objective, his own lay behind him. He turned to face Zaeed and Gwene. "Alright guys, lets get this done and go home."

"Copy that, sir!" Gwene said, eagerly saluting Shepard. She paid Zaeed a curious look as he was uninterested in Shepard's words and just wanted to get the job done.

Shepard gave her a short nod, not lingering any longer he began making his way toward the bunker, closely followed by Gwene and Zaeed seemingly wandering at a distance. "So, Gwene." Shepard began. "Tell me about yourself." He wished to know about her if he would be working with her. "And speak freely." He quickly added, thinking the Lieutenant might be intimidated by rank.

"Of course, sir." Gwene replied. "Well, I am Lieutenant Gweneth Longoria, N7 operative of the Infiltrator class. I am trained for use in all weapons but I mainly use Sniper Rifles and Pistols as most of my work has been Stealth and Reconnaissance, with the odd assassination now and then."

"I heard the Colonel say that you haven't missed a shot in your entire career." Shepard began. "Is that true?"

"Yes sir." Gwene nodded. "100% accuracy since the beginning of my career. All shots that I have fired have hit their mark."

"I must say, that is very impressive." Shepard said, surprise present in his voice. "You must have had a good teacher."

"Yes sir, I did." Gwene said. "But it's a long story and right now I don't think it's the best time."

Shepard nodded, they had just arrived at their bunker. "I agree." He pulled out his Lancer and made his way over to the door, Gwene had pulled out her Paladin and hugged the wall next to the door. Zaeed had Jessie in his hands, ready to kill some blue suns mercs. "Alright, lets keep this simple. We storm the facility, terminating any hostile forces while keeping an eye out for any innocents, I don't want them getting caught in the crossfire. If they surrender, we do not kill our prisoners, understood?" He looked over to Zaeed, expecting that he might do just that.

"Alright Shepard." Zaeed said, now beginning to focus on the task at hand.

"Understood, sir." Gwene nodded.

Shepard saw that the two were ready, he made to push the button but before his finger could glance its surface, an explosion from one of the other bunkers grabbed his attention. "Steve!" Shepard said over the comms to his shuttle pilot that was surveying the area from above. "What the hell was that?"

"_An explosion at one of the other bunkers._" Came Cortez's reply over the comms. "_It looks to have come from the entrance mostly._"

Shepard abandon his own door and tried to get a clear sight of the bunker that had just had its door blown open. He couldn't see what was going on in the ensuing chaos. "Gwene. Use your Sniper Rifle and tell me what is going on!"

Gwene didn't need telling twice, she was immediately at Shepard's side, Sniper Rifle in hand with her looking down the scope for a clearer look. "I can't see a lot with the smoke." She said. "No wait, I see someone."

"Who?" Shepard asked, now realising that the bunker had been the one he had sent Ashley's team to.

"A woman, she is okay, she's moving." Gwene said simply, but her tone then became worried. "Oh no."

"What?" Shepard asked quickly.

"A merc has captured her, I... I think they might shoot her." Gwene replied.

"Deal with them, quickly!" Shepard said in a worried voice, he wasn't in a position to help Ashley, he knew it was her that Gwene had been talking about.

Gwene didn't need telling twice, she trained the cross hairs on the mercs head, and without hesitation squeezed the trigger and watched as the mercs head exploded from the sheer force of the bullet. "Target down." She replied.

Shepard couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief, he felt bad he had entrusted the protection of his fiancé to another, but he was confident Gwene would get the job done. "Good work, what about the others?"

Gwene activated the thermal scope of her rifle and tried to see just what was going on behind the smoke. "It's difficult to tell." She said. "My thermal scope shows the bodies of everyone through the smoke, but I can't identify who is friend or foe."

"Then we better get over there and help them, come on." Shepard said, making to run across the compound and help out.

"Wait!" Gwene quickly said. "She looks to have the situation under control, I think she has helped Garrus and James."

Shepard skidded to a halt and looked back to Gwene. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, sir." Gwene said. "Here, take a look." She looked up from the scope of her Black Widow and passed it over to Shepard.

Without hesitation, Shepard took the heavy Sniper Rifle and looked down its scope over toward Ashley's team. To his immense relief he saw that some of the smoke had now cleared and James had just helped Garrus up from the ground, they seemed to be alright. He handed the Sniper Rifle back to Gwene. "You were right. And thanks for saving Ashley's life, I owe you big for that."

"Not a problem, sir." Gwene said, her rifle compacting itself as she placed it on her backs magnetic holster. "It's all apart of the job."

Shepard smiled, he was about to make a remark but a gruff and annoyed voice cut over him. "Hurry up will you, we haven't got all god damned day."

Shepard cut Zaeed a silencing look, but he was right, the more time they wasted, the longer it would take to finish their mission. He and Gwene walked back over to the door, but a though came to Shepard's mind. "Wait. We should check the door first, in case they decided to do the same with ours."

"I think maybe I could scan the door with my omni-tool." Gwene said. "Give me a moment, I'll need to calibrate it."

Shepard nodded as Gwene began typing away on her omni-tool, he turned to face Zaeed. "Would this be something they would do?" He asked.

"It's one of the things Vido and I taught the worthless bastards." Zaeed said, his grip still tight around Jessie. "Didn't think they would still have the brains to remember it."

"Wait, you taught them?" Gwene said in astonishment and anger, she had overheard that little snippet of the conversation.

"Yeah, I did." Zaeed said flatly. "What's it to you, princess?"

"Well the fact that we wouldn't be in this mess, for one." Gwene said in a loud voice.

"Enough!" Shepard quickly interjected before it could inflate to something bigger. "I need the both of you to focus. Lieutenant, I need a scan of that door as soon as possible."

"Of course, sir." Gwene said, immediately going back to calibrating her omni-tool. "Sorry, sir."

"Zaeed." Shepard said, looking to the rough bounty hunter. "You are on point. You know their tactics better than anyone, and we need to be prepared for anything."

"Alright Shepard." Zaeed said, nodding that he understood his plan. Truthfully he would have taken point anyway, there was too much at stake for him to leave it down to a couple of soft hearted Alliance soldiers. He had been aiming for revenge against Vido for over 20 years now, it made his blood boil that he had come so close once, and that Shepard had completely ruined it. This time would be different, this time Vido would die.

"Calibration complete. Let me just scan the door." Gwene said, now aiming the tool at the door while it gathered some readings. They soon came back to her with surprising results. "The door is clear. We should be able to open it without issue."

"Alright, some good news." Shepard said, pulling his Lancer out and aiming it toward the door."Okay people, weapons at the ready, and get the door."

Gwene had taken her Paladin from her hip and held it carefully with both hands and aimed it at the door like Shepard. Zaeed had been closest to the door so he ended up pressing the button on the control panel and the doors gently slid open. Zaeed was the first to proceed into the deserted hallway, swiftly followed by Shepard and Gwene, immediately the door behind them shut with a loud hiss, causing all three to look back at it. Refocusing their efforts, they pushed on and went further down the hallway to the next door, Gwene immediately began scanning the door once more for any hidden traps that lay behind.

"Something doesn't feel right." Zaeed said. "It's too quiet."

Even Shepard had to agree, it was far too quiet. "I half expected them to at least have set up an ambush for us at the first door."

"Yeah, me too." Zaeed said, taking a quick look at his surroundings. "Or maybe we just haven't run into it yet."

Shepard nodded. "I just wonder how the other teams are going, hopefully they're getting through just as easy as us."

"Door scan complete." Gwene suddenly said, backing away from the door. "Nothing, again."

"This feels too easy." Shepard thought. No mercs that he fought in the past had ever made it this easy to infiltrate a stronghold, it could be a tactic to lure them into a false sense of security so then they could spring a trap and catch the unsuspecting off guard, then effectively bring them down easily. But he wasn't going to let anything as easy as that bring him down. "Weapons at the ready." He ordered as Zaeed went to open the door. "Check every single crook and cranny, I don't want any surprises leaping out and catching us unprepared."

Surprisingly, the room they had entered was completely empty, not a box or human being around, it was beginning to feel like a ghost town.

"This has got to be a trap." Gwene said, looking around the room for anything out of place. "I say we just fall back and wait them out, they don't have anywhere to go."

"No!" Zaeed answered loudly. "I'm not letting that crafty bastard get away again. This ends now."

"Last I checked, it's not your call to make." Gwene said coldly, the grip on her pistol tightened in frustration, this silly old man was going to get them killed. She looked to Shepard, hoping that he might side with her.

Shepard was weighing each option heavily, it would make more logical sense just to wait them out, no casualties and the Alliance would have all the power if it came to negotiations. But something else came to mind, he remembered Bryson passing on one key fact of information. "While it is a sound strategy, we have to push on. There are Alliance personnel inside and the mercs won't let them live if it stretches their resources too much."

"Of course, sir." Gwene said. "I'm behind you all the way." While she was disappointed Shepard didn't agree with her, he did make a point, there were Alliance personnel inside, and there wouldn't be any way she would disobey an order from her superior officer, she had been taught better then that.

"Alright, then lets move." Shepard said, nodding to the other door that rested on the rooms left wall. They all three arrived at the door. "Lieutenant, work your magic."

Gwene was already ahead of Shepard, her omni-tool active and already scanning the door.

Shepard took this opportunity to turn to Zaeed. "Listen. If Vido is here, and if they use the hostages as shields, you are not to do anything unless I say you can, alright?"

"No deal Shepard." Zaeed said, his tone beginning to get angry. "I've had to live with this for 20 fucking years, he is not living another day longer."

"This isn't up for debate!" Shepard said loudly. "I bought you along because you know more about the blue suns than anyone, not to settle your revenge. If it comes to it, I will let you deal with him as you wish, but remember this is my mission, not yours." Shepard's grip tightened around his Lancer, he knew Zaeed would have something to say about that, but if he let his gun do the talking, Shepard would as well.

Zaeed looked absolutely furious, his good eye twitched as if he were considering just turning on Shepard and fulfilling his desire for revenge. His own grip tightened around Jessie, the desire to shoot Shepard was overwhelming, his already boiling blood called for it. "Shepard." He said in a low tone that sounded even more dangerous than if he were yelling. "20 fucking years I have had to live with that bastard haunting my nightmares. If he is here, I will kill him, no matter what, and you will not stop me."

"I know, Zaeed." Shepard said, not backing down from Zaeed. "But you need to listen to me. I don't want this turning into Zorya again, this time we do it my way, and maybe you will get your chance, but he might not even be in this bunker, did you think about that?"

"Of course I thought about it, Shepard." Zaeed replied, his tone beginning to rise. "If he isn't here, then I'll go to the others and kill him there, but I'm _NOT_ letting him get away again."

Shepard's look grew darker, Zaeed was beyond reason and it would jeopardise the mission if he didn't put aside his lust for revenge. He remembered facing a similar situation back on Virmire when Wrex found out Saren had a cure for the genophage, it didn't matter now considering it had been cured, but back then he was willing to go through Shepard to procure it. Fortunately, Wrex was smart, he knew it was unethical, and neither if them had to shoot the other, but this situation was just as bad, Zaeed's obsession just couldn't comprehend Shepard's words. "Zaeed, I'm warning you for the last time." Shepard said slowly, and in a warning tone. "I need you on my side here, I know how far you are willing to go to kill him, but ask yourself, is it really worth it? Is it really worth sacrificing innocent lives, just to take one?"

Gwene had finished her scan of the door, but she didn't dare say a word, she just looked between the two as they stared heavy daggers at each other, the tension was so thick it would take more than a knife to cut it. Both their hands were firmly gripping their weapons, as if daring the other to raise theirs first.

"Dammit Shepard." Zaeed suddenly blurted out, the grip on his assault rifle relaxing. "If you're trying to avoid another Zorya, you aren't doing a good job."

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked, not following what Zaeed had said.

"This is the second time you've managed to speak me down from shooting you." Zaeed said simply. He may seem like a heartless bounty hunter, but he did have a heart.

"So I have your support?" Shepard asked, feeling the grip on his Lancer lessen.

"Yeah, you got it." Zaeed said. "But I still want Vido all to myself."

"When we find him, he is all yours." Shepard said. His inner thoughts breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't want to have to go head to head against Zaeed. "That reminds me, I spoke to Aria earlier in the day. She is offering a large reward for the one who brings her Vido's and Vosque's heads on a silver platter."

"Really?" Zaeed said, musing at the thoughts. "Well, that gives me something to look forward to then." He looked toward Gwene. "I don't suppose you have a silver platter in that handbag of yours, sweetheart." He said.

"Excuse me!" Gwene replied loudly, she had now left the disliking of Zaeed phase and now had entered loathing, how he could be angry one moment and then joking the next was beyond her. All she wanted to do now was take that smug expression that had just come up on his face and shove it so far up his ass that it would never see the light of day again. "Say that again, I dare you." She said in a low and angry tone, her hands balling into fists.

"Alright, that's enough you two." Shepard quickly stood between the two of them, he couldn't deny he was a little humoured by the two bickering, but they had a mission to do. "Lieutenant. How is the door coming?"

"Scan completed." Gwene said, snapping out of her agitation and resuming her formal attitude. "Nothing is showing up."

Shepard nodded, another door with a clean slate, this was beginning to become very suspicious. "Well, I always thought we would be walking into a trap, and this proves it, no merc has ever been this sloppy."

"I hear you." Zaeed agreed. "What's our next step?"

"Spring the trap." Shepard said simply. "But we will have our own ready." He turned and looked to Gwene. "As an Infiltrator, what tech abilities can you use?"

"I can cover myself with a tactical cloak, I can create a decoy and if I'm feeling really nasty, I can fire a cryo blast from my omni-tool." Gwene said, going through the list in her head. "Oh, and the Colonel gave me these sticky grenades as well. I haven't used them yet, but I'm itching to try."

Shepard nodded, thinking through Gwene's abilities, as well as his own and Zaeed's. To make matters more annoying, he remembered that his own Biotics weren't working properly, it didn't make much sense to him as he was able to tap into them earlier on in the day, but those weren't exactly combat grade biotic power. Shepard was still able to use his weapons, but something didn't feel right about using them, they had much more recoil than he was used to and he found it difficult to aim. "Alright people, lets push on. Gwene, get the door, Zaeed, you're on point."

Gwene had taken her position by the door controls on the doors right while Shepard and Zaeed had taken up position on its left. With a push of the button, the door opened and swiftly Zaeed filed through first, followed by Shepard and Gwene, both providing cover for Zaeed as well as searching for any hidden traps. They reached the other door and immediately Gwene began scanning it for hidden traps, after a few short seconds, her omni- tool began flashing, it had come back with a reading on the door.

"Unsurprisingly, sir. My scans of the door are negative." Gwene said, looking at the result of the scan. "I really don't like this, sir."

"Me neither." Shepard admitted. "But we have to push on, get the door Leiutenant."

Gwene nodded, she reached out and pressed the button in the doors control panel and immediately the door opened. What Shepard saw on the other side was something he didn't expect at all, at least twenty assault rifles were all pointed in their direction, the mercs had caught them completely by surprise. With their own weapons hanging loosely at their sides, there was nothing they could do, they were completely outnumbered.

"Drop your weapons and put your hands behind your heads, now!"

Shepard didn't have much choice, he dropped his Lancer to the ground and looked over to Zaeed to do the same, he looked over to Gwene to tell her to do the same, but she wasn't there, in fact there was no trace of her whatsoever. It suddenly dawned to him, she must have slipped under her tactical cloak when she saw the mercs, he prayed that they hadn't spotted her. "Alright. We'll comply."

"You two, restrain them and take them to the boss. He'll want to see our catch."

Two of the blue suns holstered their rifles and approached Shepard and Zaeed, the roughly forced their arms down and bound their hands behind their backs with cuffs, they also picked up their dropped weapons, intending to make them trophies of their capture. They immediately began to march the two through the group of mercs and through the large room, Shepard couldn't help but look around as they were marched, he saw a lot of the stolen supplies the council had told him were stolen. From the ones that had already been opened, they were weapons, rifles, pistols, shotguns and sniper rifles lay spread out, just what were the mercs planning to do with all this weaponry, it was enough for a small army. His thoughts were cut off as he felt as one of the mercs roughly shoved him as he had slowed down to admire the stolen hardware.

The two were marched into another hallway, taking a right and being lead to one of the VI mainframes, Shepard remembered as he had already lead an assault to retake this training facility from a VI that had gone rogue, later he learned that the VI that he had shut down had turned out to be EDI. The door before them opened, Shepard and Zaeed were roughly shoved through, three more mercs were waiting for them, and behind them, sitting down at what appeared to be a makeshift desk made from a large crate was Vido Santiago. He had risen from his seat and approached the two of them. "Well, Commander Shepard. We meet again." He said in an amused tone as he pushed passed the mercs and stood in front of them, his arms folded and a smug grin spread across his face.

"Actually, it's Admiral now." Shepard said in a cold tone, he wasn't going to let Vido intimidate him.

"Admiral?" Vido said, now beginning to laugh. "I suppose the Alliance would like their poster boy to be well kept." He took his concentration off of Shepard and looked to Zaeed. "Zaeed. It's always a pleasure to meet my old acquaintance."

"Piss off!" Zaeed spat.

"Charming as ever." Vido said, still highly amused by the situation. He looked up from his two prisoners and made his way from the two and back over to his desk, sitting on the chair while putting his feet up to rest on the crate, the extranet terminal flashing in front of him. "Bring them here." He barked. The mercs fell into line, shoving Shepard and Zaeed over to Vido's desk, when in front they kicked the backs of their knees, forcing the both of them to their knees, though Shepard's landing hurt more as they had kicked his bung knee.

The mercs then placed their confiscated weapons on the desk and stepped back. Vido reached forward and picked up Shepard's Lancer. "Why the hell do you have something like this? This is a relic."

"It's reliable." Shepard said through gritted teeth, trying to mask the pain from landing on his knee.

Vido just shrugged and threw it back onto the desk, now reaching out and picking up Jessie. "Speaking of relics."

"Put her down, you son of a bitch!" Zaeed yelled, attempting to get to his feet and leap at Vido, but a hard knock on the back of his head from one of the mercs put him back on his knees.

"Yes, you were always so attached to this rifle, weren't you?" Vido asked. "Yes, I remember it all too well. I'm surprised it isn't a rusted up pile of scrap."

Shepard could tell by the look in Zaeed's eyes just how wild he was getting, to have the one responsible for 20 years of torture standing before you and insulting something you hold dear to you would make any man want to kill their captor. Deciding it was a good time to interfere, Shepard spoke. "Why the hell are you doing all this?"

Vido roughly threw Jessie onto the desk, which caused Zaeed to growl with suppressed rage. "I think I will let our employer do the talking." Lazily, Vido reached a hand out and typed into the terminal.

Soon a comm channel had been opened, and an annoyed Batarian voice spoke back, whoever it was, Shepard thought he recognised the tone, but then again sometime he couldn't tell between one Batarian or another. "_What do you want. I told you not to call unless it was important._"

"It is. I have a little surprise for you." Vido answered. He turned the terminal around so whoever he was calling could see the bound and captured Shepard.

Shepard watched the terminal with interest, he was finally beginning to get to the bottom of everything that had gone on. When he saw the face of the one who had hired the mercs to cause so much trouble, he began to feel his own blood boil. "Balak." Shepard said in a tone full of hatred and anger.

"_Shepard._" The Batarian terrorist replied in a matching tone.

"I always knew you were a sick bastard." Shepard growled. "But this is just low, sending these mercs to attack our ships after war."

"_Don't talk to me about low!_" Balak spat back. "_I haven't forgotten what you did to Bahak! You mercilessly killed three hundred thousand Batarian's, and for what._"

"Don't you dare insinuate that I didn't have a choice!" Shepard yelled back and cutting Balak off in mid speech, truthfully this was something that had hit him very hard. The ghosts of innocent lives had haunted him since sending the asteroid to collide with the Alpha relay, effectively creating a supernova that took out the entire Viper Nebula. "If I could have, I would have found another way to save them all, I tried to warn them but I was already too late. I'm truly sorry for what happened, but I had no other choice, the reapers would have arrived in the Nebula and used its relay as a back door to the Galaxy."

"_Enough of your lies!_" Balak roared. "_I am done talking to you, your lies are an insult to the Batarian race." Vido had turned the terminal back to face him. "I'll pay you whatever you desire, but bring me Shepard alive, I want to deal with him personally._"

"Triple our rate and I'll deliver him unharmed." Vido said simply.

"_Done._" Balak replied. The comm was cut after that, their transaction had been completed.

Vido shut off the terminal and stood from his chair. "Well Shepard. It appears I have new orders." He looked to his mercs. "Prepare to leave, we have our orders. Have the other teams checked in?"

"Vosque checked in while you were on the comms, they are dealing with some intruders but they have everything under control. Gladak hasn't responded to our hails."

"Remind me why we hired that overgrown lizard anyway." Vido said rhetorically. "Never mind, we need to get out of here quickly, I don't care about those two, they're disposable." Vido turned his attention away from the mercs and now looked to Zaeed. "Speaking of disposable. I can't have any mad dogs wandering around, it's time to put you out of your misery." He picked up Shepard's Paladin pistol from the desk, he aimed it at Zaeed and without hesitation pulled the trigger.

The pistol discharged loudly, a single bullet flew from the chamber at high speed and embedded itself in Zaeed's stomach. The hardened bounty hunter couldn't help as he grunted loudly with pain, he doubled over in pain and the heavy gunshot wound was now beginning to bleed profusely. "Zaeed!" Shepard couldn't help but yell in shock, he tried to get up and help, but a heavy knock from a mercs rifle butt instead knocked him onto the ground. He felt the sharp shock of the blow on the back of his skull, it was an odd sensation, that blow had sent a powerful surge throughout his entire body.

"Leave that fossil here to die." Vido said darkly as he watched Zaeed crumble onto the ground. "Get Shepard on his feet, we are leaving now, before more of the Alliance shows up."

"Too late."

Shepard looked up at hearing the new voice, it didn't belong to Vido, or any of the mercs, it belonged to Gwene. He saw that she had emerged from beneath her tactical cloak and now had her own Paladin pointed directly at the back of Vido's head. The other mercs had now trained their own rifles on Gwene, but she wasn't going to have any of it. "Gwene?" Shepard said in disbelief as he got to his feet, truthfully he had forgotten that she had disappeared under her tactical cloak seconds before they had been captured.

"Drop your weapons, all of you! Or your boss dies!" Gwene said in a sharp tone. Her hand wrapped tightly around her Paladin, her finger threatening to squeeze the trigger. "Now!"

"What the... How did you..." Vido began, but feeling the force of the barrel being forced harder into the back of his head quietened him.

"That's enough out of you." Gwene growled. She looked to the mercs with a sharp glare. "You have until three, then your boss gets whats coming to him." She went quiet, watching to see if any would comply, and none did. "One..." She began. The mercs were looking amongst themselves nervously. "Two..."

"Just do it!" Vido suddenly blurted out, it was something he didn't want to admit, but he was afraid of death. The mercs complied with confused looked, they all dropped their weapons and they all fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Good. Now all of you, hands behind your head." Gwene said sharply. The mercs complied and placed their hands behind their head. "You." She nodded to the closest merc. "Get those cuffs off of Shepard."

The merc complied, he stepped forward and released Shepard from his binds. As the merc stepped back away from Shepard, he had dropped to his knees to see if he could stabilise Zaeed, he was already lying in a poll of his own bloods. "Zaeed, hold on, we'll get you some help." Shepard said quickly, reaching down and trying to stop the bleeding with his own hands.

Zaeed had turned pale, he wasn't concerned about dying anymore, instead he looked up to the desk where their weapons lay. "Shepard..." He said weakly. With a bloodied hand, he pointed up to it, more specifically to Jessie. "I need... To finish... Him now..."

Shepard couldn't believe it, even in deaths grasp, Zaeed still wanted to fulfil his own revenge. "Alright. Gwene, cover the mercs." He had gotten back to his feet and had picked up Jessie.

"You got it, sir." Gwene said. She aimed her Paladin away from Vido and had it trained on the mercs.

Out of the corner of his eye, Vido spotted the Paladin. He wasn't sure if Shepard had him covered, but he wasn't going to go down without a fight. In a flash, Vido's fist went flying and managed to knock Gwene's Paladin from her hand. Using the momentary distraction, Vido bolted, straight passed the mercs, yelling as he went. "Kill them! Quickly!"

The mercs leapt into action, they all dove for their dropped rifles, Gwene had quickly leapt to recover her Paladin that had been knocked out of her hands, following up with claiming her weapon back, she took careful aim and fired at Vido, the bullet cutting through his thigh, but he continued to run away, amidst the pained cursing. It was now Shepard's turn to react, without thinking he quickly armed himself with Jessie and fired at the mercs, he sprayed the entire clip on them as he wasn't able to aim properly by firing from the hip. The mercs now all lay dead in a pile on the floor, all having been shot countless times from Shepard's poor aim.

Shepard quickly dropped to his knees to check on Zaeed, he was still breathing, his own hands clutched the heavy wound, trying to stop the bleeding. "Hold on, Zaeed. We're getting you out of here." Shepard said, activating his own omni-tool to administer a dose of medi-gel.

To Shepard's surprise, Zaeed shook his head. With a bloody hand, he weakly pointed to the door that Vido had ran through moment ago. "Get him... Kill the bastard... Use Jessie, she'll... Take care of you."

"Zaeed." Shepard said softly. He knew there wasn't anything he could do to help Zaeed now, but the least he could do was make his dying wish come true.

"You go, sir." Gwene said, kneeling at Zaeed's side as well. "I can take care of him."

Shepard nodded. "I'll get it done, Zaeed. Don't you worry." Without a second glance, he broke into a sprint, leaping over the guard and through the door. His knee was in some pain, but he could handle it, he wasn't going to let Zaeed down. He sprinted down the hallway, stopping to open the door, it opened quickly and he ran into the large room, many of the mercs that Shepard had forgotten were here spotted him and began to open fire, forcing Shepard to take cover behind a nearby crate.

"Keep firing and advance on him!" One of the mercs yelled.

Many bullets impacted all around Shepard, he was safe while behind the crate, but he was quickly running out of time, he had to come up with a plan of counterattack, and fast. He raised Jessie over the top of the crate and fired blindly, hoping it would buy him some extra seconds, he wasted an entire clip then bought it back down to eject the spent thermal clip. He wasn't sure how many he had killed with the blind fire, but firing blindly wouldn't be enough, he only wished his biotics would work properly, then he wouldn't have any issue in taking these mercs down, and the more time he wasted with them, the harder it would take to catch up to him. He was quickly running out of options, he had to at least try use his biotics again, he focused and let the dark energy envelop him as he glowed blue, he quickly thrust out his hand at the crate, hoping to create a shockwave.

To Shepard's utter delight, a heavy shockwave flew out of his hand, impacted with the crate and sent the now large projectile toward the advancing mercs. He watched as it flew towards the mercs that had bunched together and had been firing at Shepard, they all watched in horror as the large crate flew toward them, many leapt out of harms way, but the unlucky few were flattened by it with a sickening crunch. Shepard took this opportunity and quickly broke into a sprint once more, he didn't have time to deal with the remaining mercs now, otherwise Vido would escape again, and he wouldn't let that happen.

Shepard continued to sprint, the open door leading to the exit suggested Vido wasn't too far ahead, he quickly checked the seals on his breather to make sure it was secure, he had already suffocated to death once from a rupture, he didn't want it happening again. He punched the door control and it slowly opened after equalising with the outside pressure, it finally opened and Shepard leapt outside, looking around for any sign of Vido. He turned to look behind him and saw as a speeding Mako was driving right at him, Shepard quickly leapt out of the way and managed to avoid getting run over by the rover. Shepard leapt back onto his feet and watched as the Mako drove out of the compound and down the slope, he had been able to catch a quick glimpse of just who had been driving it, Vido. "Dammit!" Shepard cursed loudly, but all hope had not yet been lost. "Cortez! Do you copy?" He yelled over the comms, hoping his shuttle pilot would hear, wherever he was.

"_I copy, Shepard._" Cortez's reply came. "_Sorry sir, that other Mako came from nowhere. It's mounted with an AA battery so I was forced away._" The Alliance Kodiak quickly came back into view, landing just in front of Shepard.

"That's fine, but we need to catch it." Shepard said, climbing into the now open canopy of the shuttle. "I don't want it getting away."

"Copy that, hold on this will be a bit bumpy." Cortez said.

The canopy sealed shut, and the cockpit door opened, he felt a lurch as he felt the Shuttle become airborne, then with a swift acceleration followed. Shepard immediately took a seat in the co-pilots chair, he knew Cortez was more than able to fly this on his own, but Shepard wasn't aiming to take flight controls, rather he was aiming to use the Kodiak's weapons. "I've got a visual." Shepard said.

"I see them, hold on I'll take us lower, it will give us a clear shot." Cortez said. The shuttle flew through the air at a rapid pace, they had already gained on the speeding Mako, trying to escape.

Shepard didn't hesitate, he aimed the Kodiak's guns on the Mako and began to fire. The shots impacted all around the Mako that had begun to take evasive manoeuvres, it's AA battery came to life and was now aiming up at the Kodiak. "We're being targeted!" Cortez said quickly. "Taking evasive manoeuvres!" He then began to put the shuttle through its paces, Anti-air missiles began firing up at the Kodiak. The whole shuttle lurched as it danced through the sky, managing to avoid the incoming missiles, it now made it harder for Shepard to target to Mako.

"Get us lower and hold her steady!" Shepard said.

"If I do that, I might not be able to avoid that missile fire!" Cortez replied, continuing to make the shuttle avoid the constant missile fire.

"We'll be fine, Cortez." Shepard said, looking over to his shuttle pilot. "I trust you."

Cortez paid Shepard a quick glance and then broke into a smile. "Can't say no to those eyes. Alright, but if we do get shot down, you're buying."

"Deal." Shepard said with a grin. He liked how Cortez was able to ease the thick tension with a simple, yet effective joke. "Now lets do it. Just, nothing too fancy."

Cortez couldn't help but grin. "Fancy is all I'm about Shepard." With a great lurch, the shuttle went into a steep dive, rocketing towards the ground and the sudden increase in g-force forced Shepard into the back of his seat. The ground drew ever closer, for a moment Shepard though they were going to crash, but Cortez had pulled the shuttle from out of its dive, managing to avoid all the anti-air fire. "Quick, shoot the mako before it can target us."

Shepard didn't need telling twice, he bought the Kodiak's weapons to train on Vido's Mako and began to fire. The first round managed to impact with the Mako's kinetic barrier, but the bombardment of heavy slugs bought down the shields, now leaving it open for a fresh attack. The shuttles weapons were cycling through a cooling and reloading phase. "We've got him now." Shepard couldn't help but say.

"Dammit, we're being targeted again." Cortez said. "We have to break off and gather some altitude."

Just a few more seconds and Shepard could fire the shuttle weapons again. "Hold off, Steve. The weapons are almost ready to fire again."

"If I don't pull up now, I won't be able to avoid that missile fire." Cortez said, now beginning to get a little worried with Shepard's recklessness.

"Just a bit more..." Shepard said, watching the cycles progress bar, it was sitting firmly at 98%.

"Shepard..." Cortez said in a warning tone, every second they remained at their low altitude the harder it would be to avoid the anti-air missiles.

98 quickly became 99, then quickly changing to 100, the board lit up green and the Kodiak's weapons were ready to fire again. "Weapons hot."

"Then shoot before they shoot us down." Cortez said quickly, his hands at the ready, just in case they needed to out manoeuvre any missiles.

Shepard slammed his fist down on the firing controls and the Kodiak's weapons lit up, firing a barrage at the undefended Mako. Fortunately, many of the bullets had caused considerable damage to the now smoking Mako, whatever had happened to it, made it come to a slow stop, unfortunately it hadn't bought down the weapons systems and several missiles fired from the battery. "Shit!" Shepard cursed loudly. "Evasive manoeuvres!"

Cortez didn't need telling twice, he pulled the shuttle into a a steep ascent. With some tricky flying and manoeuvres Shepard didn't think possible in a Kodiak, they managed to avoid most of the missiles, with the break neck movements, it had out a strain on the shuttles controls, it wasn't rated for surface to air battles. The missile impacted with one of the rest thrusters, causing the shuttle to lurch violently and drop into a dive, wildly spinning out of control.

"Dammit! One of our rear thrusters is gone!" Cortez said loudly, while fighting to correct the shuttle. The ground drew ever closer, Cortez had managed to right the shuttle and was beginning to pull up, but it would be enough. "Brace yourself! This is going to he a rough landing!" Rough was an understatement. The shuttle slammed nose first into the surface of the moon, digging in and causing the whole shuttle to flip and slam hard onto the ground, coming to a rough landing on its roof.

Shepard couldn't help but groan in pain, his whole body hurt and his head was spinning, the blood rushing to it as he was hanging upside down, still safely secured to his seat. "Cortez? Cortez, are you alright?"

A weak reply came from next to him. "I'm fine, Shepard." Cortez said. "But I need to get a breather quickly, before the shuttles mass effect field drops and I can't breathe."

"Alright, hold on." Shepard said. He looked up to the bracer across his body, it kept him firmly planted to the seat, it had probably saved his life from the crash. He reached up to hit the emergency release, the bracer became loose and flipped open, causing Shepard to fall from his seat and land on his front. He couldn't help but grunt in pain as he felt a sharp pain spread from his knee, but he pushed it aside, he managed to stand up and opened the emergency compartment, inside was a survival kit, a breather with plenty of oxygen, rations that would last a week, and a Predator pistol with thermal clips. Shepard quickly grabbed the breather and oxygen, he stepped over to Cortez and handed it to him. "Here. Put that on and then I'll help you down."

Cortez took the breather and placed the mask over his mouth and nose, creating an airtight seal so he could breathe normally. "Thanks Shepard." Shepard nodded, he reached to Cortez's emergency release for his bracer, he pushed it and quickly caught Cortez as he fell, gently breaking his fall. Now our of the pilots seat, Cortez stood up and began flexing his neck, trying to stretch it out after getting some whiplash. "I don't want to say I told you so, but..."

"Yeah, yeah." Shepard waved it off. He took the Predator with thermal clips and handed it over to Steve. "We aren't done yet. Vido is still nearby, and we have to finish him off."

Cortez took the pistol and loaded in the clips. "Alright Shepard, I've got your back."

Shepard nodded, he stepped out of the shuttles cockpit and booted open the canopy, the mass effect fields had dropped as the shuttle then lost power. Shepard stepped out onto the moons surface and began to look around for any sign of the damaged Mako, he managed to spot the smoking vehicle not too far away from their crash, but he had a change of heart about backup. "No, you wait here, call the Normandy for a pickup." Shepard said as he reached to pull Jessie from his back, fortunately she was still in one piece. He began to limp toward the smoking Mako.

"Alright." Cortez replied, confused Shepard had changed his mind. "But what are you doing?"

"Unfinished business." Shepard replied simply. He didn't even look back at the downed Kodiak as he limped toward the Mako. All he was focused on now was the damaged Mako, any movement from the disabled vehicle and he would put them down without hesitation, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that as he had questions that needed answering. He reached the disabled Mako, he began to walk around it to see if he could gain access to its hatch, but as he approached it he noticed that it had already been opened. Footsteps on the surface lead away from the Mako, and the two owners of them were within sight just a short distance away.

Ignoring the pain of his leg, Shepard broke into a run to catch up with Vido, there was another one with him and they appeared to he supporting him along. Shepard was well within distance now, he came to a halt and raised Jessie. "Hold it right there!" He called out.

The merc and Vido both turned their head to look at Shepard, through Vido's visor, Shepard saw the unmistakeable look of fear in his eyes. The merc was the first to react, quickly reaching for their pistol, but Shepard already had the upper hand, with a controlled burst, he fired at the merc, all three bullets piercing the armour and killing the merc. The dead weight fell to the ground, bringing Vido with it, the wound in his thigh still present. "Please!" Vido said in a pleading tone, even his voice was scared as he tried forcing the dead merc off of him. "Please don't kill me!"

Shepard now stood above Vido, Jessie pointed directly at Vido's breather helmet. "Tell me what I want to know." He said in a dark tone. "Why did you attack Luna base?"

"B... Balak wanted us to set up a forward operations base." Vido answered quickly. "After the war, he planned to launch an attack on the Alliance."

Shepard couldn't help but curse silently. "And the wepons?"

"They were to supply his army with." Vido answered again. "I'm cooperating, see? Please don't kill me! Show mercy!"

"Shut it!" Shepard growled loudly. He placed a foot on Vido's gunshot wound and began to apply pressure, the mounting pressure made Vido whimper with pain, and he tried to lift Shepard's boot of his wound. "What about about all the Alliance personnel that you killed? Did you show them mercy?" He put his full weight into his foot, crushing Vido's wound more and causing him to howl in pain.

What Shepard didn't realise was that the dead mercs pistol lay just beside his foot, Vido had spotted it and began to adjust his hand so he could quickly grab it and shoot Shepard. "No, you're right. I'm truly sorry for what I did, if I could take it all back, I would. But a mountain of credits is something you just can't refuse."

Alarms went off in Shepard's head, Vido's entire tone had changed, there was no longer any hints of fear in his voice, if anything it was full of confidence. Then something dawned to him. "Just where were you trying to escape to exactly?"

"I was to meet with my personal ship, a nice little cruiser should be along to pick me up at any moment." Vido said hoping to draw Shepard into his bluff as his hand closed around the pistol at Shepard's foot. "Then we were going to bombard the facility."

"What about the prisoners, the weapons, your own men?" Shepard asked in a frustrated tone, what he was saying now wasn't making any sense.

"All replaceable." Vido said, his confidence rising as he was looking for an opportunity to raise the pistol and fire.

Things still weren't adding up for Shepard, his words all felt like hollow lies, but at the same time he had to presume he was speaking the truth. "Alright then, I just have one last question for you. Where is Balak hiding?"

Vido couldn't help but laugh. "Do you really think he would tell me?"

"Yes." Shepard responded quickly. "Now I ask you again, where the hell is Balak?"

"Fine, I'll tell you. But only if you let me go." Vido said, feeling that his opportunity had come.

"The Citadel Council will grant you full immunity if you co-operate." Shepard said. "Now, tell me where to find Balak."

"Alright, I'll tell you." Vido said, now feeling as though he were invincible. The Citadel Council would offer him immunity if he disclosed Balak's location, if he played his cards right, he might be able to get away from all this as well as the weapons and Minagen back at the facility. "He is currently hiding in the Vular system of the Kite's Nest. He never told me which planet, but he would have left our payment in a buoy orbiting Vana."

It made sense that Balak would hide in the Kite's Nest, the Batarian home system. His search had been further narrowed by Vido spilling the beans, and now he could finally catch up to that terrorist bastard and do what he should have done a long time ago, put a bullet between all four of his eyes. "Thank you, Vido. You have been a big help." Shepard ejected a thermal clip from Jessie so now he had a fresh clip ready to fire.

The confident look on Vido's face vanished as he saw Shepard prepare to shoot. "W... Wait, you promised you would give me..."

"Immunity?" Shepard said, cutting Vido off. "I said the Citadel Council would, but guess what. I'm Alliance."

Now realising Vido had been lured into a trap of Shepard's, he had no choice but to act. He lifted up the pistol and took aim at Shepard, looking to shoot him in the chest, but Shepard's reaction was quicker, he saw down the barrel of the pistol as it took aim at him, swiftly he took his foot Vido's wound and kicked the weapons from Vido's hand, discharging from the sudden shock. Realising his opportunity had been lost, Vido desperately tried reasoning with his would be executor. "I... I can give you credits, lots of credits!"

"You already have, by telling me where I can collect your payment." Shepard said simply, his finger wrapping tightly around the trigger. "Oh, and by the way, just as Jessie will be sending you to hell, Zaeed sends his regards." Without hesitation he squeezed the trigger, a flurry of bullets flying from the barrel and silencing the screaming Vido's pleads of mercy. His hand fell to the ground as he had reached up to try and shield himself from the incoming bullets, a pool of blood began to spread from Vido's body and soak the moons surface, he was dead.

Shepard breathed a sigh of relief, with Vido now dead, the Blue Suns threat on Luna had come to an end, it was finally over. Jessie began to compress as Shepard placed her on his magnetic holster, now all that was left to do was regroup with his team back at the training facility and complete their mission. He left the scene of his victory and began to walk back to the downed shuttle, the before the crash played back in his head as he limped back, he wondered just how much he would have to buy to appease Cortez for getting them both shot down.

Before he reached the downed shuttle where Cortez sat on the ground, a comm came through. "_Admiral Shepard? Can you read me?_" It was Gwene's voice that came through.

Shepard activated his own comm and spoke. "Copy that, Lieutenant. I read you." He replied.

"_I... I'm sorry, sir._" Gwene said, her tone was quiet, very quiet. "_I tried to stabilise Zaeed as best I could, but he lost too much blood from the gunshot wound. He's dead._"

Shepard halted immediately. The worst feeling in the world was losing a man on the battlefield, but when that person was a good friend of yours, it really hit home. Too many times had Shepard have to bury those he had considered his true allies and friends, now Zaeed had been added to that list. This was his price for revenge, the ultimate price that any living being would have to pay, his life. "I... Thank you for telling me Lieutenant."

Gwene's voice came back over the comms, it bought with it a worried and concerned tone. "_Again sir, I'm really sorry._"

"It's fine, Gwene." Shepard replied. "It's not your fault and I'm sure you did the best you could. Shepard out." He shut off the comms and continued to the shuttle. Even though it was already quiet on the moon, there was a deathly silence that haunted Shepard now, one that he had encountered all too much in his military life. All he wanted to hear now as any sign of life from anything, he didn't care what as long as it was something to drown out the bitter silence.

Cortez spotted Shepard as he approached, he stood up to greet the war hero. "Sir. Good to see you made it back in one piece. The Normandy is two minutes out and will pick us up first."

"Good to hear." Shepard said as he nodded to his shuttle pilot. Instead of making short conversation, he leaned up against the downed shuttle and slid down it so that he was now sitting on his rear.

"Shepard?" Cortez asked, noticing his body language. "Is everything alright?"

"I wish it were, Steve. I really wish it were." He replied in a soft tone.

"Did something happen?" Cortez asked, kneeling down to bring his face to Shepard's eye level.

"We lost someone." Shepard said in that same soft tone.

"Who?" Cortez asked, feeling nervous as to who it might be.

"Zaeed." Shepard said. He began to feel the un-vented feelings of the past war begin to surface once again, for the sake of those all around him he was always keeping them bottled up inside as much as he could, constantly afraid of what might happen if he exploded.

"I'm sorry, Shepard." Cortez said, reaching out a hand and placing it on his shoulder in a comforting manner. "I heard he was a good man."

"That's the second time something like this has happened. First Anderson, and now Zaeed." Shepard thought outloud.

"Anderson? Admiral Anderson?" Cortez asked, retracting his hand. "What do you mean the second time."

Shepard couldn't help but sigh again. "The second time someone has died by my hands." He held up his own hands and looked at them, he felt they were dirty with a blood that would never wash away. "Steve, can you keep a secret?"

"Of course, Shepard." Cortez replied. "Anything for you."

Shepard nodded and gave the tiniest of appreciative smiles. "When Anderson and I were on the Citadel, just before the beam fired... I killed him."

Cortez couldn't believe what he was hearing, Shepard killing Anderson? It was impossible, it had to be. "You killed..." He began. "But... What?" He couldn't find words to describe what he had heard.

"I shot him." Shepard said. "But at the same time, I didn't."

"I... I don't follow." Cortez said, now more confused than ever.

"Just before I fired the beam, the Illusive Man appeared and tried to stop us." Shepard said, recounting the story he wished to leave behind him forever. "He... Manipulated me into firing my pistol, straight into Anderson's stomach."

"But... That's not your fault, Shepard." Cortez said, now in complete understanding. "You didn't kill him, it was all the Illusive Man."

"But it was my finger that pulled the trigger, not his." Shepard said.

"Stop trying to blame yourself." Cortez said. "None of that was your fault, the Illusive Man is the one to blame for all this. We both know Anderson is the last person you would shoot willingly."

"But..." Shepard began.

"That's enough." Cortez said, bringing their conversation to an end. "I promise you that I would keep it a secret, and I will. Just stop blaming yourself for things that were too far out of your control."

Shepard made to reply, but it was cut short as the Normandy came into view and landed just behind their position, it's cargo bay doors opening so the two may enter the ship. "I think you need some rest, sir." Cortez said, standing up and holding his hand out to help Shepard up. "Maybe a long overdue vacation is in order. When did you last have one?"

"I had one for about two years. I pretty much slept the whole time." Shepard said, taking Cortez's hand and pulling himself up.

Cortez's face broke into a grin as the two began to make their way over to the Normandy, he was glad to see that Shepard's sense of humour still worked. "I meant one where you got to do whatever you wanted. Get a little R&R."

"2176." Shepard replied.

"Ten years?" Cortez asked, almost feeling his jaw drop. "Ten years without a Vacation, you've got to be kidding."

"I was given two weeks leave while I was stationed on Elysium." Shepard began, now beginning to walk up into the Normandy's cargo bay, Cortez just behind him. "Just before I was able to check into my hotel, guess what happened. The Batarian pirates attacked the colony."

"Why not take time off during?" Cortez asked, now joining Shepard in the cargo bay.

"I just never really took time to myself." Shepard admitted. "I got offered a position in the N7 program after Elysium, then it was just one assignment after another, I didn't really care about leave, just getting the job done." He paused. "Now, get up to the med bay and get yourself looked at, I know you're hurting." The cargo bay doors had sealed shut.

"Of course, Shepard." Cortez said, now moving toward the elevator. "Don't forget our deal, we got shot down so you're buying."

Shepard didn't say anything, he just let Cortez walk away in silence. He looked around the cargo bay and saw that he was the only one down here, which was good as all he wanted was to be alone right now. This was his way of mourning those he lost under his command, he separated himself from everyone and withered away in silence, though when Thane passed away in Huerta, he went straight to Purgatory and drank himself half to death. Again he was always drawn back to the question he had asked himself so many times 'why them and not me?' Whichever higher power that controlled the galaxy seemed to love keeping Shepard alive, but letting those all around him die without remorse. The frustration inside Shepard began to boil up, he didn't even realise his fists were clenched tightly and were shaking with untamed anger, this wasn't just about losing Zaeed, but everything bad that had happened throughout his life.

A small amount of pent up anger and frustration seeped through, in one moment Shepard ripped off his helmet and three it as hard as he could, it flew across the cargo bay and smashed the visor from its impact with a support beam. What came from Shepard was something he had never done before, and it scared him a lot, he emptied his lungs in a loud and ferocious roar of anger, bouncing off the walls of the cargo bay as it echoed all around him. He wouldn't deny he did feel slightly better after letting off some steam like that, but now his body was shaking, the adrenaline rush that he didn't realise he had was now wearing off. He shut his eyes and felt himself beginning to calm down, all he wanted now was for this day to just end.

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_Phew, glad that's over... This Chapter was annoying as hell to write, one day I hit a block, next I fall asleep while writing... I'm too bloody inconsistent. Anyway, I apologise to all you Zaeed fans out there, I never really liked him in the first place, so I didn't have any remorse in killing him off (Insert evil laugh here)._

_I think that's all I'll say for now, for me it's getting late here and I want to upload this and then hit the hay, seriously its getting hard to see my screen as my eyes just want to shut and I'm not letting them, so we are fighting it out, and my eyes are winning... Bastards...__  
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_If you have any querries or anything like that, just flick us a PM and I'll get back to you ASAP. Dont forget, leave a nice review :)_


	11. Chapter 10

_Hello again, everyone! I apologise for taking so long to update, I hit a bit of writers block with this Chapter, first it was one thing, then another, so much deleting what I had and starting again. In the end, I ended up with this Chapter, sorry its short compared to the others, but hey, the story must go on, right?_

_Oh! I should also mention, I've begun a new Mass Effect projecto if you like this one, then I'm sure you will like my other one, which you can view by checking out my profile. Anywho, lets not get distracted, here is Chapter 10._

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**Mass Effect: Duty Calls**

**Chapter 10 - Early Riser**

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_Darkness. A silence cut through the deceased forest, and with it bought a chilling wind. Brown leaves crunched under each step that was taken, almost feeling like the bones of the dead. This feeling of angst and hurt was all too familiar to Shepard, having suffered this very same nightmare throughout his entire career of the Reaper War. It always ended up with him chasing a young boy, the same innocent child he wanted so desperately to save from all the chaos going on, but the shuttle he had climbed onto was shot down by a destroyer as Shepard watched helplessly from the safety of the Normandy. The boy did not appear this time, he was left alone in the cold with nothing but the ghosts of his past whispered in his ears. Kaiden, Mordin, Thane, Legion, their all familiar tones cutting deeply as he saw flashes of their faces before him, he wished so desperately that they didn't have to die, that they could all meet him at the bar and share some well deserved drinks, even if Legion wasn't physically able to drink, his presence would have been more than welcome._

_Catching Shepard completely off guard, someone did appear before him, emerging from behind a dead tree, but it wasn't the young boy, rather it was someone dressed in an all too familiar blue outfit, Ashley. But what was Ashley doing here? This didn't make all that much sense to Shepard, what did this all mean? "Ashley?" He couldn't help but call out._

_She continued to walk, she looked toward Shepard and smiled brightly at him, but didn't deter from her path, continuing to walk at a quick pace toward an unknown destination. She got further and further away, beginning to leave Shepard's sight, but he wasn't going to let her go, he began his pursuit, weaving in and out of the tree's as he sought to catch up to her._

_"You did good, son. You did good. I'm proud of you."_

_Shepard slid to a stop, not just because he had lost sight of Ashley, but now recognising the new voice that had worked its way into Shepard's nightmare. David Anderson._

_"Shepard! I was just waxing goddamned nostalgic."_

_There it was, another familiar voice, it was have been difficult to miss the gruff and low tone of Zaeed Massani. Again it was another that Shepard had failed to save. "I'm sorry!" He yelled out pointlessly "I'm sorry I couldn't save you all!" He had to say it, it was something that ate away at him, deeply inside, something that he thought he had kept control of. But burying his deep feelings only made these intense feelings worse when they rose to the surface._

_An ominous glow caught Shepard's eye, it was coming from somewhere off to his right. He ran toward it, he didn't care what it was, but he was desperate to get some answers. He emerged into a small clearing, the ominous glow seemed to come from light enveloping Ashley, she stood directly in its centre, as if she had been waiting for something. "Ashley?" He asked again, moving slowly toward her. "Just what is going on?" Then he heard her speak, but what truly struck him was that her mouth wasn't moving._

_"Death closes all: but something ere the end_

_some work of noble note, may yet be done_

_not unbecoming men that strove with gods."_

_Those words were all too familiar to Shepard, it came from Alfred Tennyson, Ulysses, he had heard Ashley quote it before, back during his first tour with her aboard the SR-1, and again read it in an e-mail shortly after the two met again on Horizon. Just what was she trying to tell him? What was the meaning of the poem to Shepard? These very questions rattled in his brain, he wanted an answer, all he wanted was to just make everything stop hurting so much._

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

"John! John, wake up!"

A loud gasp and rough muscle spasm woke Shepard from his sleep. A cold sweat had drenched his body, and his heavy panting was causing his already tired head to spin wildly. He threw the covers off of himself and sat on the edge of his bed, he leant forward and rested his elbows on his knees as he bobbed his head down to smooth the sweat from off of his face. He felt a soft weight on his back and saw two arms wrap themselves around his neck and hold him tight. He took ahold of one of the hands that had wrapped around it and held it gently. "I didn't wake you, did I?" He asked in a quiet voice.

"John, you were having another nightmare." Came a soft voice in his ear. "Weren't you?"

"Yeah, I was." Shepard said, feeling nothing but shame sweep through him. "I'm sorry I woke you, Ash."

"This is the fifth night in a row, John." Ashley said in his ear. "What's wrong?"

"I can't shake this feeling of guilt." John admitted, still hunched over with Ashley kneeling behind him, keeping him comfortable with a soft embrace. "I failed so many people, and lost those that trusted me. I feel... So weak."

Ashley was bought to a loss of words, she knew exactly how he felt, she too had lost so many good people under her command back on Eden Prime, each man and woman gave their lives to protect an innocent colony from a Geth attack, and she had been the lone survivor of her unit. For so many nights, she was bought to a abrupt awakening after suffering countless nightmares in which she watched as her own people died around her. There was no easy way to stop the reoccurring nightmares, but eventually they came to a stop. "You need to forgive yourself." She said. "It sounds difficult, I know, but they don't blame you for dying, do they."

"It sure as hell feels like it." Shepard answered. "But you're right, I need to. But... I can't, I should have been better, they shouldn't have had to die like they did, the didn't deserve it."

"I know, John." Ashley whispered softly. "But you have to stop blaming yourself, none of this was your fault."

"I know." John replied, bowing his head in shame. "But I still feel as though it is my fault."

Ashley reached with one if her hands to cup John's cheek, she then turned his head to the side so she could look into his weary eyes. She leaned in and placed a tender kiss on his lips, hoping to help him to forget his problems. "You need to forgive yourself." She said after she had left his lips. "It only gets easier from there."

John couldn't help as a weak smile came to his lips, Ashley always had had a way of making him feel better. "What would I ever do without you." He said softly as he moved his head in to kiss her once more.

"You would still be the same man that I fell in love with." Ashley replied equally as soft, just before their lips made contact once more.

Shepard loved to have Ashley close to him as she was now, all his problems seemed to melt away whenever he basked in her presence. Their soft and passionate kiss a enticing reminder as to why he loved her so, he knew she would always be there for him whenever he needed, and he would always be there for her, no matter what. Slowly he retracted his lips, missing her taste when he did. "I love you."

"I know." Ashley whispered back, her forehead still softly pressed against his. "I love you, too."

Shepard couldn't help but smile, he felt his guilt washing away with each passing second he sat her with Ashley, he loved her so much that there wasn't a single regret in asking her to become his wife. "You go back to sleep." He said softly. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"So long as you join me." Ashley replied, a cheeky smile spread across her lips.

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "You know how I am, once I'm up, I'm up."

"Who said we're going to be doing any sleeping?" Ashley asked, her voice swiftly becoming a seductive and highly addictive purr.

Shepard just raised an eyebrow with his grin. "Ashley Williams. We aren't married yet." He couldn't help but joke.

"Oh, well then I guess you're right." Ashley replied, swiftly regaining her former attitude. She quickly leapt back under the sheets and pulled them up over her neck. "I'll let the cold space you sleep on keep me warm."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle, he always found it so cute when she tried to guilt trip him into soon what she wanted. "Just keep it vacant, I might slip in after I blow off some steam."

"Nothing wrong with blowing off some steam with me, is there?" Ashley cheekily replied.

"Later, perhaps. If you behave." Shepard said. Leaving her with a smirk on her face, he stood from the bed and walked across the cold floor of the Normandy. He walked up the short steps and made to enter the bathroom and freshen himself up, he paid a look back down to the bed and saw as Ashley moved slightly in her attempt to get back to sleep, he was still angry at himself for having woken her up with his own disturbed awakening for the fifth night in a row.

He entered the bathroom and sealed the door shut behind him. He turned on the tap of the sink, cupping the cold water in his hands, leaning over the basin, he splashed the cold water over his face, feeling a little refreshed and more awake now. He turned the tap off then grabbed a nearby hand towel and wiped his face down, he wrapped the hand towel around the back of his neck and gripped the edges of the sink. He kept his head bowed down, the nightmare still running fresh in his mind, he honestly thought they had finished, he hadn't suffered any nightmares for almost two months now, around the same time that he and Ashley stopped going behind everyone's backs with their relationship and openly embraced it. True enough they had been together for a while before that, but it wasn't openly known to anyone, for fear of the fraternisation protocols the Alliance had set in place.

Then it dawned to him, could it be that Ashley was now beginning to appear in his own nightmares for fear that he might lose the very owner of his heart? The same woman that had agreed to marry him not five days ago? It made a certain kind of sense, Ashley was his everything, and if he ever lost her, then he would be nothing, he would have nothing to keep him going any longer. He looked up from the sink, starring directly into the mirror, more specifically his own reflection. He felt sick in his stomach, looking upon someone who he had failed to protect all the innocent lives lost in a pointless war, someone that should have died a million times over, instead others took his place. He felt as one of his hands curled into a tight fist, he wanted nothing more than to reach out and punch himself, but what end would it bring? It wouldn't solve anything, it would just leave him with a broken mirror and possibly hand, it just wasn't worth breaking anything over. Instead he bowed his head again and sighed loudly, he just hated everything bad that was going on right now.

He pushed himself from the basin and stepped over to the shower, right now all he needed to do was relax and calm down, and a hot shower would do just that. Shepard turned on the hot water and let the steam cloud the bathroom, he stripped out of his pyjama bottoms and stepped into the warm waters. He felt at the water began to wash away his worries and calm his mind, he could feel himself relaxing a little easier. There was one thing that didn't wash away, the blood of billions of mother, fathers and children, the one who had lost their lives buying time so Shepard could unite a galaxy and destroy the reapers, the blood coated his very hands and no matter how hard he washed them, it just wouldn't wash away. Again he just tried covering it up and forgetting it was even there.

He used the towel to dry the remainder of himself and picked out his dress blues and changed into them, since he was now among the highest ranking in the Alliance fleet, he had to always be presented at his best. He disliked the dress blues, they weren't very comfortable and there was barely any manoeuvrability in them, he almost felt like a walking plank of wood. "Screw it, this is my ship." He muttered to himself as he threw the dress blues back into the rack, instead he his N7 jacket and matching outfit, if he was going to be walking around for a while he might as well be comfortable.

He left the bathroom shortly after, quietly he left the room as to not wake Ashley as she had fallen back asleep. He stepped into the elevator and descended down to the cargo bay, the Normandy was in dry dock on the Citadel, and a walk through the partially reconstructed presidium would be a good way to shake the constantly brewing thoughts. As he was walking through the bay to the doors, he heard a soft hissing coming from his left, he paid a look over toward James' old station to find that someone was sitting at the weapon bench. He strayed from his path and approached the bench to find that Gwene, the N7 infiltrator was sitting down and modding her Black Widow. "Gwene." Shepard began. "What are you doing down here?"

Gwene's blue eyes looked up from her soldering, as soon as she saw Shepard, she swiftly placed her soldering iron down and stood up to salute her superior officer. "Sir!"

"At ease." Shepard said, and Gwene relaxed to dropping her arms behind her back. "Sorry, I forgot you and James had been assigned to the Normandy. What are you doing down here this early?"

"I apologise, sir." Gwene said, thinking she may have done something wrong. "I have always been an early riser, so it gives me a proper chance to check my weapons and keep them maintained."

"You're committed, I like that." Shepard said in praise, he pulled up a stool and sat at the bench opposite Gwene. "I hope you don't mind if I join you, my Paladin could use some TLC."

"Of course not, sir." Gwene said. "The company would be great, I'm getting sick of listening to the rats scurry around anyway."

"Wait, there are rats on my ship?" Shepard quickly asked, looking around and listening for any sound of little paws. "How the hell did the little bastards get onboard?"

"Sorry sir, it's just a joke." Gwene said with a humoured grin.

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "You had me going there, Gwene. But next time, try not to give me a heart attack."

"No promises, sir." Gwene said, the humoured grin still spread across her face.

"Another thing, you don't need to keep calling me 'Sir' or 'Admiral' all the time." Shepard said, laying down his Paladin on the table, he always made a habit of keeping it on him at all times. "Just, call me Shepard."

"Of course, sir. I..." She began, her grin changed into a cheeky smile. "Sorry, it's just a force of habit. I was always taught to respect my superior officers."

"Is this the same person that taught you how to shoot?" Shepard couldn't help but ask as he began to pull his Paladin apart.

"The same." Gwene nodded, she had picked up the soldering iron again and set to work on her Black Widow again.

"If I had to guess, I would say he was Alliance?" Shepard said.

"N7, just like both of us." Gwene said, removing a piece of the Widows inner workings and beginning to clean it. "You heard of Rueben Longoria?"

"Of course I have." Shepard said in surprise. "He was the ops sniper that never missed a single shot in his career. He saved a lot of lives on during the first contact war if I remember correctly. After first contact he retired, keeping his still unbroken record intact."

"He was my dad." Gwene admitted. "He retired because he had meet my mother and wanted to settle down with her."

"Really? I didn't know he had had any children." Shepard admitted. "He was really quite famous back then, I guess you could have called him the 'Shepard' of the First Contact."

Gwene began to laugh. "That's a nice way to stroke the ego, isn't it."

Shepard just shrugged, but it didn't stop the humoured grin spreading across his face. "Hey, but at least you understand now." He had begun to remove the mods from his Paladin. "So, I have your file sitting up in my cabin, but I hadn't had the chance to read it yet. Want to fill me in?"

Gwene replaced the now clean part back in her Black Widow. "Sure. What do you want to know?"

"Just tell me about yourself, now that you're apart of my crew, it's my responsibility to know." Shepard said. "Well, it's not really a responsibility per say, I just like to get to know my crew on a more personal level."

"Fair enough." Gwene stopped with her weapon modding and looked at Shepard. "Well, I was born in Scotland back in 2162, on the Rannoch moors."

"Rannoch moors? Scotland? Seriously?" Shepard asked in a surprised tone. "You don't sound Scottish, more Canadian than anything."

"You as well?" Gwene said with a humoured grin. "I mentioned it Tali yesterday and she almost flipped."

"I'm not surprised." Shepard said, still finding this both surprising and humouring. "Anyway, go on."

Gwene nodded as she continued her life story. "Yeah, so I was born and raised on the moors most of my life, I think the only reason I didn't pick up a Scotish accent was because both my parents were Canadian. When I was around ten, my mother up and left, I don't know why but to be honest I don't really care any more, it wasn't long after that that dad bought me my first Sniper Rifle. Then for the next seven years he taught me how to use a Sniper and pistol, take them apart and clean them then put them back together."

"Sounded like he was grooming you to be his protégé." Shepard said.

"He was, and I didn't mind it in the slightest." Gwene said, now staring at a blank space with a smile on her face as she reminisced. "I always looked up to him, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps."

"Well, you're doing a damn fine job of following." Shepard couldn't help but say, his own weapon modding lay forgotten. "N7, Lieutenant, a perfect record. He'd be damned proud."

Gwene paid him an appreciative look and a smile. "Thanks. That really means a lot."

Shepard made to answer, but suddenly his omni-tool began to flash, a message was coming through for him. "Would you excuse me." He said politely to Gwene as he left the weapon bench, he walked out into the middle of the bay and activated his tool to speak. "Commander... I mean, Admiral Shepard here."

"_Well, it's good to see that I'm not the only one still adjusting to your promotion._" Came the all familiar voice of Joker.

"Do you have any idea what time it is, Joker?" Shepard said.

"_I know, but a priority message just came through for you, from Rannoch._" Joker said.

"Rannoch?" Shepard asked, thinking he hadn't heard Joker right.

"_Yeah, you know, the Quarian home world that you helped them to reclaim?_" Joker said. "_It came from Admiral Raan, she says its about EDI. She wants to speak to you._"

"That explains a lot." Shepard muttered to himself, he then spoke clearly to Joker. "Thanks for that, Joker. I'll message her from the comm room." He paused for a second realising something. "Joker. You didn't sleep in the cockpit again, did you?"

"_Tell me how it goes._" Joker quickly said, the omni-tool shut off after that, ending the vid call.

Shepard rolled his eyes, he wasn't surprised Joker had interrupted him with this call and that he was sleeping in the cockpit again, after EDI and the Normandy, that leather chair was his greatest love. But if Admiral Raan did have some information on how to bring EDI back online then it was worth hearing her out, the Normandy just didn't feel the same without her. He proceeded back over to the elevator, but not before calling out to Gwene. "I have to go, but lets finish our chat later."

"Of course, sir. I'll look forward to it." Gwene called back.

Shepard smiled as he entered the elevator, the door shut and the elevator then ascended up to the CIC. He stepped out and began to walk around to the comm room, where the console was flashing, waiting for the comm to be opened. Shepard activated the comm and the hologram projector bought up Admiral Raan.

"_Admiral Shepard._" Raan began. "_I suppose congratulations are in order over your promotion._"

"Thank you, Admiral Raan." Shepard replied. "You sent a message regarding my ships A.I.?"

"_Yes I did._" Raan said. "_When Tali'Zorah sent me the message to examine your ships A.I. core, it was an opportunity not to be missed. I scanned the core and ran some diagnostics, and I must say, Cerberus really knows how to build an A.I._"

"They mostly enhanced a rogue V.I and applied some reaper tech to it, that's how we got EDI." Shepard said, remembering the explanation EDI had given about her construction.

"_Yes, I noticed the Reaper tech installed._" Raan admitted. "_Therein lies the solution to reactivating your A.I._"

"I don't follow." Shepard said, confused with Raan's words.

Raan went quiet for a moment, appearing to be in deep thought. "_Let me try explaining it in a different way. What do your doctors do when a vital organ in your body fails?_"

"They clone a new one with your DNA and replace it." Shepard said, then it clicked to him. "Wait, so if we replaced the Reaper tech, we get back EDI?"

"_I believe so, I've looked at other options and so far this one seems the most viable._" Raan said. "_But in saying that, I would have to warn you. If you should succeed in reactivating it, you most likely wouldn't be able to recover its memory_."

"So that would mean we would just have an A.I. onboard, but it wouldn't be EDI?" Shepard asked.

"_Yes._" Raan replied simply. "_Half its memory banks were tied into some reaper tech, and that can't be recovered. If you are lucky however, the remaining memory shouldn't be all that hard to rebuild. It would almost be like amnesia, slowly easing it into its old memory may help it to remember, otherwise if you proceed to quickly, it may reject its old self completely._"

Shepard was beginning to get annoyed with Raan's referring to EDI as 'it' "So what would our best course of action be?"

"_Take out the non functional reaper tech, reverse engineer it, then replace it and hope for the best._" Raan said simply. "_If I might add, you should think about re-administering those Ceberus shackles, just in case something should happen that gets out of your control. If you activate your omni-tool, I can send the same scanning program I used to scan your A.I. core._"

Shepard activated his omni-tool just as the holographic Raan activated hers, she then transferred the scanning program to Shepard's omni-tool "I'll take your advice, Admiral Raan." He said. "And thank you for all your help."

"_The Quarian people owe you a debt, Shepard._" Raan replied. "_It was the least I could do. Raan out._"

The comms shut off as Raan had disconnected, it now left Shepard in an interesting position, but at the same time a difficult one. On one hand he could bring EDI back online, but on the other he could unleash an A.I. throughout the Normandy that could disrupt many systems and cripple the Alliance's most advanced warship. If he was going to do this, then he would need an expert, Tali immediately came to mind but it wasn't quite who he was thinking of. He activated the QEC again and tried open up comms to someone he knew would be able to point him in the right direction, he only prayed they were still alive as he hadn't heard from them since he was on Earth.

The comms activated and the holographic projector displayed Miranda Lawson, dressed in her usual white catsuit, but her eyes were half open, as if she had been woken abruptly. "_Shepard._" She said with a yawn which she covered with her hand. "_What could be so important that it couldn't wait until the sun was up?_"

"Sorry Miranda, but I needed to ask you something." Shepard began. "When Cerberus created EDI, who was in charge of her creation?"

"_EDI?_" Miranda questioned. "I_f I remember correctly, her creation and integration into the Normandy was done by the Illuminati Cell. They were consisted of the Illusive Mans top scientists._"

"And who was their cell leader?" Shepard asked.

"_I don't know their real name, but their codename was 'Janus'_." Miranda replied. "_She was the lead scientist in most of Cerberus' experiments._"

"Know if she is alive?" Shepard couldn't help but ask.

"_Interestingly enough, she is._" Miranda said, causing Shepard's neutral look to turn into one of surprise. "_I'm not sure if you've seen her, but she was one of the scientists you rescued back on Gellix_."

Shepard thought back to that particular mission. Traynor had picked up a lead on the ex-Cerberus scientists and tracked them down to Gellix. Shepard lead his team in and successfully extracted the scientists and sent them to work on the Crucible, Jacob had also been apart of the group that left. "That's... Interesting news. Do you know where they are now?"

"_I'm not sure, last I knew they were working on the Crucible with the Alliance._" Miranda said. "_You would have to speak to the Allaince about their whereabouts_."

"Thanks Miranda." Shepard with with an appreciative smile. "What about you, are you safe?"

"_I'm fine._" Miranda answered. "_I'm currently on the Citadel, trying to get in contact with Oriana._"

"Oriana? Is she safe? Where is she?" Shepard asked. He still remembered Oriana quite well, he and Miranda had diverted from their main mission on Illium to track her down and save her from the Eclipse mercs that were trying to kidnap her for her tyrant of a father.

"_I sent her to Rannoch, shortly after we fled Sanctuary. _" Miranda said. "_When you told me about how you had recovered the Quarian home world, I sent her there both for her protection and to work on the re-settlement and redeveloping of Rannoch. If you remember, I told you..._"

"You told me that she wanted to work toward colony development." Shepard said, cutting Miranda off. "Well, if it helps, report to the Normandy and use its QEC. I was just speaking to Admiral Raan from Rannoch."

"_You would really let me do that?_" Miranda asked, unable to mask the surprise. "_I already owe you so much._"

"Think nothing of it, Miranda." Shepard replied simply. "Besides, I owe you far more than you owe me. From now on, lets call it even."

"_Alright, you've got yourself a deal._" Miranda said. "_I'll come to the Normandy after the sun has come up, I'm sure there are people still sleeping, and I would hate to wake them._" She raised an eyebrow at the same time she folded her arms, she had never been subtle.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Shepard said with a humoured grin. "Sorry for waking you."

"_We're even now, think nothing of it._" Miranda replied with a cheeky grin of her own. "_Miranda, out._" The hologram soon faded as the communication was cut.

Now that Shepard had been put on the right trail, he needed to track down the ex-Ceberus scientist, Janus, and bring her aboard the Normandy, if they were going to bring back EDI, then she would be instrumental in her reactivation. He wasn't sure who he should call regarding her location, in the end, he left the thinking for later, it was still too early in the morning for most in the Solar System. Shepard ultimately decided that the walk he had forgotten about would be a good way to kill some time.


	12. Chapter 11

Hello all! I apologise that this update is way overdue, don't really have an excuse , just got lazy and been playing heaps of GTA V, and with Online working, it's taken more of my time. Anywho, I'll do my best not to slacken off again.

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**Mass Effect: Duty Calls**

**Chapter 11 - The Alliance's Hidden Secret**

"So tell me again, Shepard. She actually said you could get her back online?"

Shepard couldn't help but sigh in annoyance. "For the tenth time Joker, yes."

"Okay, so explain to me what you're doing right now, and why you called me down to the A.I core." Joker asked as he knelt down to see if Shepard needed anything in the maintenance shaft.

"I'm scanning the core for the burnt out reaper tech infused in EDI's core." Shepard said. He was currently crawling beneath her core with his omni-tool active, scanning for the last piece of reaper tech. He had already been working in the core for almost two hours and had managed to extract each burnt out piece carefully. "If we can replicate the reaper tech, then maybe we can bring EDI back online."

"So, you're doing all this off of a 'maybe'?" Joker asked. "Alright, works for me."

"Yes, but we will have to he careful." Shepard said as he continued to manoeuvre through the maintenance shaft. "She may have amnesia."

"Amnesia?" Joker couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah, it's what Raan told me." Shepard replied. "Part of the reaper tech was infused in her memory banks, and with it gone she won't have very much of her old memories."

"Okay, I think I get it. Amnesia, didn't think it would apply to EDI." Joker said. "But what if she doesn't regain her old memory?"

"Well, first we're going to re-establish the shackles Cerberus had in place." John said, as his scans were locking onto the reaper tech. "Just in case something should happen. If we get her memory back, we'll take the shackles down, if she can't regain her memory, we'll leave the shackles in place and decide where to go from there."

"Sounds like a plan." Joker said. "Well, if you need any help, you know who to call."

A loud bang echoed from the maintenance shaft, followed by a lot of cursing, Shepard had found the final piece of reaper tech and had extracted it, but in the process he had absent mindedly tried to stand up, result in him banging his head against the floor which Joke stood. "Son of a bitch!"

"You alright, Shepard?" Joker asked, having gotten a fright from the bang, it had been quite loud.

"Yeah, I just hit my head on the damn shaft ceiling." He said with a groan of pain. "Hold on, I'm coming out." Shepard soon emerged from the maintenance shaft, tossing the burnt out reaper tech first. Once out of the maintenance shaft, he began to stretch, the confined space wasn't exactly built for someone of his size. "I now sympathise about your crawling through these damned maintenance shafts."

"Yeah, it's not exactly easy crawling when both your kneecaps could shatter from brittle bone disease." Joker retorted, as he carefully knelt down to examine the reaper tech. "Any idea which piece this belonged to?"

Shepard just shrugged. "No idea. All I know is that it's reaper tech, you don't forget what reaper tech looks like." It's appearance was the same as the reaper artefacts that Shepard and his team had acquired from a Cerberus Lab on Sanctum. He knelt down and began to pick up some of the reaper tech.

"So where are you going to take it?" Joker asked as he to picked up some pieces of the reaper tech.

"The conference room." Shepard answered quickly. He stood up, his arms full of the reaper tech he had extracted. "Before I began to pull out the reaper tech, I sent a message to Tali, Adams, Gabby and Ken, asking to meet me there after they got the message."

"So, you woke them up?" Joker asked, slowly standing up.

"No, they should see it after they wake up." Shepard replied. "Come on, I'm not that rude that I'd interrupt someone's good nights sleep." He paid Joker a look as he began to make his way from the A.I. core.

"Hey, you were already awake!" Joker quickly retorted, following Shepard out of the A.I. core and through the med bay. "So the way I see it, I caused no harm."

"And what would your excuse had been if you had woken me up?" Shepard asked as they exited the med bay and made their way around to the elevator. "Not to mention, you would have woken Ashley."

"Well, the first thing I would do is give her some caffeine, she gets really cranky when she doesn't have any sleep." Joker replied, stepping into the elevator Shepard had summoned. "Seriously, with her lack of sleep she makes the Krogan seem like a bunch of pacifists."

"Come on, that's my fiancé you're talking about." Shepard quickly replied as he hit the button for the second deck. "But you're absolutely right, almost feels like I'm marrying one, but I couldn't care less, it's what makes Ashley who she is, and that is the woman I fell in love with."

"She isn't around, Shepard." Joker replied. "You don't have to kiss ass or anything."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle lightly at Jokers comment. "I know, but what can I say, the voice speaks what the heart feels." He paused as a thought came to his head. "Oh, that reminds me. You need to take New Years off."

"Why?" Joker asked.

"New Years Eve is when we are planning to get married." Shepard said as the elevator doors opened. "It's going to be family and close friends, so of course you have to be there."

"Count me in." Joker said. "So the hero of the galaxy getting married, how many churches want to do the ceremony? I'm sure they'll all be lining up."

"We decided to have a simple one on the beaches of Fiji. We've had enough of being in the spotlight to last a life time." Shepard answered as he now stood in the scanner which immediately began to set off silent alarms, including the one on his omni-tool. "Dammit, can you shut this scanner off? It's honestly getting annoying every time I come through here."

Joker dumped the reaper tech he carried onto the nearby bench and accessed the terminal, shutting off the scanner. "Done." He replied. "So Fiji, huh? Hoping to soak up some sun while you're there?"

"As much as I possibly can." Shepard answered, making his way through the door and into the conference room, where Tali already stood. "To be honest, I've had enough of travelling the galaxy to last a lifetime."

"Oh good, you too?" Tali said with a loud yawn, having heard the tail end of the conversation.

"Yeah, it will be nice to find somewhere to kick back and relax." Shepard said, now dumping the tech onto the conference table. "I'm sure Rannoch's suns will bring out a nice tan for the Quarians."

"When we can finally take our suits off, and that might not be for a long time." Tali replied, now looking at the tech Shepard had dumped on the table. "Shepard, what is all of this?"

"Reaper tech." Joker answered before Shepard could, he too had just dumped the tech he carried onto the table. "From EDIs core."

"Really? So if I had to guess, Admiral Raan figured out how to bring EDI back online?" Tali asked, picking up a piece and examining it more closely. Her tone was a little dark, it was common knowledge that Quarians harboured a dislike for artificial intelligence, after they had created the Geth and forced them to rebel. The result became the morning war, in which the Quarians were forced to flee their own home planet, and drift through the stars in salvaged ships for nearly 300 years.

"Maybe. But we need expert opinions first before we attempt it, that's why I'm going to try and get in contact with the ex-Cerberus scientist responsible for her creation." Shepard replied. "She was the Illusive mans top scientist, so I'm hopeful she can help make something of all this."

"Wait, the Illusive mans top scientist?" Tali immediately asked, heavy suspicion present in her tone.

"Yes, but she was with the group of ex-Cerberus personnel we recovered from Gellix." Shepard answered. "You know, the one lead by Jacob."

"Right." Tali said. "Forgive me if that doesn't inspire confidence, I still don't trust anyone that worked for Cerberus."

"Don't let Jacob or Miranda hear that, you might hurt their feelings." Joker quipped, bringing a humoured smile to Shepard's face.

"There are some... exceptions." Tali quickly replied. "They have done more than enough to earn my trust."

Shepard's omni-tool soon began to flash, it was notifying him that a priority message had been sent to his private terminal. He swiftly excused himself and made his way out to the CIC, where he booted up his terminal and after sifting through countless e-mails, found the priority message.

_From: Alliance Command, Admiral Steven Hackett  
To: Admiral John Shepard_

_Shepard. The former Cerberus scientists you are looking for are currently working on an Alliance project on one of Jupiter's moons. Attached are the co-ordinates for their location, please be advised the research and components within the facility are top secret and are not to be discussed with anyone._

Shepard had finished reading Hackett's short e-mail, it aroused suspicion immediately, what was so top secret that even he wasn't allowed to know? He prayed it was something that wouldn't disturb the peace between the council as it was fragile enough already. He had complete trust in Admiral Hackett, but he wouldn't deny it did make him a little suspicious why he was being kept out of the loop. He left his terminal and proceeded back into the conference room where Tali and Joker had struck up a conversation. "Joker. How do you feel about flying the shuttle out to Jupiter?" He interrupted.

"A road trip never hurt, or rather space trip." Joker said. "That where the scientists are?"

"Yes, Hackett assigned them to some project, not sure what it is." Shepard answered. "How soon can we be ready to leave?"

"Just say the words and we'll head down to the cargo bay." Joker replied. "We can be there and back in half an hour, depending on how long it takes to get them on board."

"Alright, lets go now, the sooner the better." Shepard said, he paid a look to Tali. "Up for a little morning ride, Tali?"

"Sure." Tali replied. "It's boring around here when we don't have to fly around saving the galaxy." She then followed Shepard and Joker down to the cargo bay.

* * *

**-S-**

* * *

The Kodiak swiftly emerged from an FTL jump, having come from the Citadel, inside Shepard sat in the co-pilots seat while Joker was at the flight controls. Before leaving the Normandy, he had left a confused Ashley in charge and a rejected Cortez in the cargo bay, Tali currently sat down and was engaged in a conversation with Gwene, who Tali had managed to convince Shepard into letting her come. Javik had also managed to hoodwink his way into the short trip, a mixture of guilt tripping and threats convinced Shepard to let him come.

It hadn't taken long before Shepard had sealed the cockpit door, the two spoke like energetic little sisters and their constant giggling was beginning to get on Shepard's nerves, Javik's too as Shepard could hear him muttering curses before the door had shut. "Thanks Shepard." Joker said, breathing out a sigh of relief. "It was getting difficult to concentrate."

Shepard just smiled as he activated his omni-tool. "According to the co-ordinates Hackett gave me, the research facility should be on Ganymede." He said, transferring the co-ordinates to the Kodiak's computer.

"What do you think they're doing here?" Joker asked as he adjusted the Kodiak's flight path.

"I don't know." Shepard answered. "I just hope whatever it is, we won't regret it in the long run."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I'd hate to think we were preparing for more war." Joker said. "But Admiral Hackett would know better than that, could be he is just preparing for the worst should the reapers return."

Shepard made to reply, however a communication began to play from the Kodiak's comm system. "_Unidentified Alliance Shuttle, you are about to enter a restricted atmosphere, please identify or turn away, failure to comply will be met with force._"

Shepard activated the shuttles comms and replied. "Ganymede Alliance facility, this is Commander... My apologies, Admiral Shepard." He scolded himself once again, the promotion still hadn't fully sunk in yet. "We request safe passage to your facility where we are to meet with some of your scientists."

The comms went silent for a few moments, it began to make Joker a little nervous and he paid Shepard a look. "Do you really think they'll shoot us down?" He asked.

"I don't know." Shepard replied. "I never heard of an Alliance facility on Ganymede, have you?"

Joker shook his head. "No, I can't say I have. It could be one of those top secret facilities that only is accessible by top clearance. You know, like Cerberus was before it went all, well... you know... Humanity first..."

"Could be." Shepard replied. "Even if they attempt to shoot us down, I could always throw my authority as a Spectre around. Hopefully my jurisdiction goes this deep."

Joker's reply was cut short as the comms activated once more. "_Alliance Shuttle, you are cleared for descent. Please switch control of your shuttle over to Automatic, an Alliance Officer will take control and bring you in._"

"Copy that, Alliance facility." Shepard replied. "The shuttle is yours."

Joker gave Shepard a scandalised look, never had he heard such blasphemy. "Hey! I'm the one flying here!"

"Come on, Joker. It's nothing personal." Shepard replied as he stood from the co-pilots seat. "A lot of the secret facilities out there normally take control of the shuttles flight path so their facility can remain a safe location."

"I know that, but I'm still flying." Joker said in a sulking tone, that reminded Shepard a lot of a little boy who had his favourite toy taken off him.

"Yes, well, you be a good little boy and relinquish the controls." Shepard began as he opened the door so he could join Tali, Gwene and Javik. "And I'll buy you an ice-cream on the way home."

Joker just rolled his eyes at the remark. "Smart ass." He then programmed the shuttle onto automatic, as per the facilities instructions.

The shuttle then began to change course, the external viewing systems were shut off, and now they were flying blind. For the next several minutes, Shepard, Joker and Javik both listened to Gwene explain to Tali about the moors back on Earth, it soon became a little boring for the three of them, but Tali was on the edge of her seat.

Immediately Tali turned to Shepard. "We have to go there!" She said in an extremely excited tone.

"I'm not exactly interested in going to Earth just to look at a watery wasteland." Shepard said in a bored tone. "No offence, mind." He quickly said to Gwene.

"None taken, sir." She replied in a cherry tone. This was one if the things Shepard had come to admire about Gwene, no matter what was thrown at her, she seemed to just shake it off and continue along as if nothing had happened. "Not a lot of people want to visit the moors anyway, quite honestly I'm surprised they still exist, with the rate humanity has been expanding."

"Good thing we set up colonies around the galaxy then." Joker remarked. "I'd hate to see what Earth would look like overpopulated."

"We could have ended up like the Drell, it wouldn't have been very nice." Shepard said. "Now that I think about it, it would be a horrific experience, though I've got a feeling that each of the races home worlds will be over populated for a while to come."

"Rebuilding the galaxy is going to be a long and tedious process." Tali said. "So, it makes sense in a way that everyone would want to return to their races home worlds."

"The colonies will take the longest." Gwene began. "I feel sorry for the refugee's stuck on them now, they have no where to go with the Mass Relays damaged as they are."

"I read in some reports forwarded to me from the Kilimanjaro yesterday. They have sent a team of engineers to the Exodus Cluster to repair its relay." Shepard said as he took a seat opposite the two woman, Joker sitting down on his right with Javik remaining stood up. "After the Reapers took the Citadel from the Nebula, a lot of those that had escaped took refuge there."

"Why Terra Nova?" Joker asked. "Wasn't it hit early on by the Reapers attack?"

"Yes." Shepard nodded to confirm Joker's question. "However, when the Reapers realised what we were then planning, they just up and left, straight to Earth. Well, that's what the reports say. It's just like a forest fire, although it may be a hot zone, the safest place you can be is where it has already been burnt, no chance of anything reigniting from the ashes." He paused and paid a glance over to Javik. "What do you think, Javik? Did the Prothean's do anything like this back in your original time?"

"Oh, so now you want the Prothean's opinion." Javik said in a heavily sarcastic tone. "I thought it was quite clear you didn't need me for anything. What was the point in waking me up if you wouldn't even let me so much as pick up a weapon."

"I'm sorry, Javik." Shepard began, still feeling the effects of Javik's previous attempts a guilt tripping. "It was not my intention to cause any offence like I did in the past. I was just... Skeptical about your combat skill, you were asleep for 50,000 years. Not to mention your methods are a little extreme."

"Then I shall prove myself." Javik began. "When we return to your ship, we will do battle."

"What, you mean like sparring?" Gwene asked.

"What is this 'sparring' you speak of, human?" Javik asked, not understanding the term.

"Free fighting." Gwene began. "It's a great way to test ones reflexes, without the brutality of true hits. Soldiers do it as a way to relieve some stress, or to get them pumped for the coming battle."

"That sounds too primitive." Javik said in disgust. "We will do battle the way my people did. To the death."

A stunned silence swept through the shuttle, shocked looks appeared on everyone else's face except Shepard's, somehow he knew that that was what Javik had meant all along. "Javik, I will spar with you." Shepard began, trying to keep a cool head. "But I will not fight you to the death."

"Then you dishonour my request, and me." Javik replied, his tone neutral and difficult to pick up on. "You should have left me in my cryo-sleep, it is obvious I am in no way respected by you."

"Javik, that's..." Shepard began. However his sentence was cut short by the sudden thud of the shuttle touching down, they had arrived at their undisclosed location. Shepard's omni-tool had begun flashing, an incoming transmission was waiting to play, he wasted no time in activating and letting the transmission commence.

"_Admiral Shepard. Please inform all crew of your shuttle to disembark, this is purely for security reasons._"

"Being?" Shepard asked, he didn't like being kept in the dark.

"_We cannot risk any insecure transmissions or comms to leave this facility. They are free to roam the facility, so long as they do not access the restricted areas._"

"Copy that." Shepard replied, giving up on the stonewalling. "We will exit the shuttle immediately."

The shuttle doors hissed loudly and opened, allowing them all to exit to the open landing pad, it was clear that they were underground by the walls of rock all around them, but how far underground were they really? Shepard looked up as soon as his view was no longer impaired by the shuttle, he couldn't even see the entrance in which they had descended, it was like starring through a large tube with no end in sight. Tali had joined Shepard and was looking up also. "Kee'lah." She breathed. "I'll hand it to the Alliance, they sure know how to hide a top secret facility."

"You said it." Shepard commented.

Gwene and Joker had exited the shuttle and looked around the large landing pad, the large square pad sat in the middle, with only a single, large walkway across from the facility itself, which appeared to be protected by a large door. "Well, I definitely think someone was over compensating for something when they built this place." Joker couldn't help but say, which garnered a short snort from Gwene, who found the comment quite humorous.

The large doors slowly parted, out from the crack several heavily armoured soldiers emerged and swiftly ran across the walkway, when they reached the landing pad, they immediately lined up in a straight line and trained their heavy Assault rifles on the group. Shepard noticed Tali's hand reach instinctively for her pistol, before she could glance its surface, he grabbed her wrist and shook his head when she looked at him. From behind the line of soldiers, someone stepped forward, they weren't dressed like the soldiers, the armour they wore was familiar to Shepard, it appeared to be Destroyer armour, a heavy armour given to the best soldiers the N7 had to offer. Shepard left Tali's side and approached the Destroyer, his hand hovering over his previously modded Paladin. "Soldier. Identify yourself!" He immediately demanded.

The Destroyer immediately saluted on Shepard's approached. "Admiral on deck!" They swiftly barked. The soldiers lowered their weapons and saluted Shepard also. He instantly recognised the voice, it had been him that had spoken to him through the shuttles comms

"I ask again, soldier." Shepard continued. "Identify yourself!"

"Major Allan Rictus, head of security for Alliance research facility codenamed 'Falcon'."

"At ease, Major." Shepard began. The Major immediately lowered from his salute and held his hands behind his back, keeping his formal stance, while the soldiers behind had holstered their weapons and had adopted the same stance as their Major. "Do you know why I am here?"

"Yes, sir!" The Major replied. "We received an encoded transmission from Admiral Hackett at 0632 hours regarding your admission into the Falcon Facility."

"Man, does Admiral Hackett ever get any sleep?" Joker whispered to Gwene, who had to suppress herself from falling into a state of giggles.

"You know the old saying." Gwene replied, in an equally quiet whisper after calming down. "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"That is correct." Shepard said a little loudly, so as to speak over top of Joker and Gwene's whispering which he could hear. "We have come to pick up a former Cerberus scientist who is currently working on a project within this facility."

"Of course, sir." The Major replied. "If you will follow me, I will escort you to them immediately." The Major turned on the spot, the soldiers immediately fell out of line and formed up into two separate lines along the edges of the walkway. The Major then began to walk along the walkway to the large doors on the opposite end.

Shepard looked back to his crew and nodded at them to follow. The group immediately set across the walkway, trying to keep up with the Major's quick pace, all but two of the soldiers sprang into action and began to follow behind the group.

"I will not forget this, human." Javik said to Shepard, the anger still present in his tone. What surprised Shepard more was that Javik was no longer using his name, usually the two got along well enough, but things were very different now.

Shepard said nothing, but continued to follow the Major. "I apologise for all this heavy security, sir." The Major began. "But this is one of the Alliance's top secret research facilities, and I would like it to remain top secret."

"Understandable, Major." Shepard replied. "My crew is trustworthy, they will not do anything to compromise this facility." He said, both as a reassurance to the Major and as a warning to the group.

For the next ten minutes, the Major lead the group down a series of white corridors with a heavy metal door every fifty yards, it was a regular maze, even Shepard had lost track of where they were now. Eventually, they stopped at a metal door, the General stepped forward and into the doors holographic interface punched in a code, as soon as the door had opened, he stepped to the side, allowing Shepard and his crew to enter. "The former Cerberus scientists are inside." The Major began. "When you have found the one you need, I will escort you back to the landing pad."

Shepard nodded in understanding, he crossed the threshold into the room, unsure of what he would see inside. It was a large chrome room, and in the direct centre was a large box made of a thick glass, inside was a suit of armour, the same make as the Destroyer armour. Computers and terminals were littered around benches which also appeared to be doubling as weapons tables as many arms were strewn across them.

"Wow, even I don't have anything witty for this." Joker said after he whistled quite impressively. "It's quite an interesting setup, don't you think?"

"Kee'lah!" Tali breathed.

One of the scientists had noticed the group enter and approached them. "Can I help you?" They asked cautiously.

"Yes." Shepard began. "We are looking for..." However he couldn't finish his sentence, as the same scientist had recognised him.

"Commander Shepard!"

"Actually, it's Admiral Shepard now." Shepard corrected as Joker had began laughing.

Some of the nearby scientists had abandoned their posts at hearing that Shepard was paying them a visit. They were all many faces that he recognised from Gellix, others were new to him. They had all began thanking him for saving all their lives with helping them to run escape from Cerberus and the Illusive man. After working his way through the crowd of handshakes, pats on the back, and oddly enough a kiss of the cheek from one of the female scientists, which he immediately made a mental note not to mention to Ashley as she was the jealous type. Shepard didn't longer too long on the though as he had stepped up to a very familiar face, one that looked happy to see him.

"Shepard! Finally here to take me to Rio?"

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle as he took ahold of Jacob's hand and shook it. "You know it, but I got something to do first, and I could use your help." He remembered the promise the two had made on Earth several weeks back, to meet at a bar in Rio for some well deserved drinks.

"Anything, what can I do?" Jacob replied. He have a swift nod of acknowledgment to Tali and Joker, who each returned with one of their own.

"Well, long story short, we are trying to bring EDI back online." Shepard began. "One of these scientists was the head of her creation in the first place, and we want to bring them back so they can help us. Their name was Janus."

"Janus? Man, sounds like you've been speaking to Miranda." Jacob couldn't help but comment. "But I know who you're speaking about, follow me."

Jacob then lead Shepard over to the terminal nearest the glass box, where an elderly woman was working at typing on a terminal. "Excuse me, Doctor." Jacob began.

The elderly doctor got such a fright from Jacob's announcement, she jumped and looked back at them with a scandalised look. "Jacob! How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that?" She quickly scolded, Shepard picked up on her heavy German accent quite quickly.

"Sorry Doctor, but there is someone here who want to meet you." Jacob quickly apologised. "Doctor, this is Shepard, you know him."

"Ah, Commander Shepard!" The doctor said, now looking up at the Alliance officer. "A pleasure to meet you in the flesh."

Shepard couldn't help as his lips curled into a humoured smile, he was sure Joker would almost be wetting himself from the mistaken rank once again. "The pleasure is all mine, Doctor."

"Yes, yes, of course." The Doctor replied. "What is it that I can do for you today?"

"I came here for your help." Shepard began. "I am currently trying to bring EDI back online, and I need your help to do so. I know you are the one that created her."

"Actually, you have your Alliance to thank for that." The Doctor said. "All I did was take the rogue Luna V.I. and equip it with Reaper technology. I must say I was quite impressed with how it turned out."

"Yeah, that makes two of us." Joker commented from behind Shepard.

"And, you are?" The doctor asked, pushing past both Jacob and Shepard to get a better look at Joker from behind her thick spectacles.

"This is Joker." Shepard quickly answered. "The Normandy's current pilot."

"Ah, so you are that silly boy that freed it from its shackles." The doctor said in realisation. "You did a very stupid thing, but it seems to have paid off, you charmed its human nature."

Joker made to give the doctor a piece of his mind, but Shepard immediately gave him a look as he knew what Joker was about to do. "What do you mean her human nature? She's an A.I."

"When I created the Enhanced Defence Intelligence, I went further than installing it with reaper technology." The doctor said, she turned to the terminal on her table and began typing into it, a larger holographic screen activated and began to display the doctors own work with EDI. "Before I fled from Cerberus and the Illusive Man, I managed to recover a lot of my research, the Enhanced Defence Intelligence was one of many."

"EDI!" Joker suddenly blurted out, causing the doctor and Gwene to jump in surprise. "Her name is EDI."

"Yes, EDI." The doctor said, paying Joker a scandalised look. "But I have all my research with me, so I can leave with you whenever you wish."

Shepard nodded. "Thank you for your understanding, doctor. We will leave immediately."

"I do have a favour to ask of you before we leave, however." The doctor quickly said before anyone could make a move.

"Of course, what is it?" Shepard asked, feeling a little nervous about what her request could be.

The doctor turned and looked at the heavy armour that was sealed in the glass case. There were many wires that travelled from it to separate terminals, including the doctors own. "This armour is a prototype of the Destroyer 2.0. A much stronger version of the original Destroyer armour used by N7 soldiers." The doctor began. "It is still years away from completion, but it is ready for live fire testing. Unfortunately, we don't have anyone available for use it."

Shepard immediately knew what she was asking. "And you want me to test it out for you." He said, completing her sentence.

"Our selection of volunteers is limited to scientists that are afraid of a screaming bullet, or a security team that will not leave their posts." The doctor had said in a heated rant, but Shepard had cut her off.

"And Jacob here didn't volunteer?" Shepard said, paying a quick glance at him for an explanation.

"No way, I've already been their guinea pig, I ain't doing that again." Jacob quickly said in his defence, taking a large step away from the doctor and Shepard.

Shepard raised an eyebrow at Jacob's comment, while his lips had curled in a humoured smile, he was a little more hesitant to participate. "Let's say I do this, what assurances could you give me that I won't be harmed?" He asked.

"The armour is still experimental." The doctor replied. "I could say you would be fine, but I would probably be lying."

"Well, you're honest, I'll give you that." Shepard couldn't help but say. He looked to the heavy armour sealed inside the glass, he wasn't sure how anyone would be able to use the armour properly as it looked as though it weighed a ton. His eyes fell to a tactical pad securely integrated into the armours left arm guard, a tactical pad was not like the usual holographic interfaces found in modern technology, rather it was a touch screen that reacted to the touch of skin. "What is with the tactical pad? I didn't think the Alliance used that kind of technology any longer?"

The doctor had begun to type into her terminal, but she continued to explain about the armour. "We decided to revisit it, it helps to run the armour's systems." She explained. "There is so much software programmed into it, we had to install it to help the V.I interface prioritise what the user needs."

"Wait, so you are telling me this suit uses a Virtual Intelligence?" Tali suddenly spoke, surprising the doctor, she had been so quiet this whole time she didn't realise that Tali was even there.

"Yes, it helps with the armours systems." The doctor explained. "The armour itself uses a lot of power, and if the shields were to be taking constant fire, the constant power fluctuations could cause the whole armour to short and lock up. The V.I helps to regulate all that, both for the armour and users safety."

"That armour doesn't even look like it needs shields, throw a brick wall at it and it might just bounce off then come back and hit you in the face." Joker couldn't help but comment.

"You're not wrong." The doctor said, oblivious to Joker making a joke.

"Wait, what?" Joker said, surprised that his joke wasn't a joke.

"That armour took quite a beating, it took a Hydra missile, and all it did was drop its shields." Jacob said. "I know because I was the one firing at it. Not a scratch after the second shot directly on the armour itself."

"That's not all, the armour is heat resistant, can withstand electromagnetic pulses, magnetic fields, intense atmospheric pressure." The doctor explained. "Heck, if we could actually test around the Earth's atmosphere, you could even enter a planets orbit from space, provided you had something to stop you from hitting the ground too hard."

"Even after listening to all that, and you still won't participate?" Joker quickly said to Jacob.

"Nah, man. As I said, I ain't being their guinea pig again." Jacob said, a bit humoured by Joker's comment. "Besides, I gotta baby on the way, can't go doing anything stupid now."

"And you're willing to let the saviour of the galaxy go in your place to certain doom. Definitely not doing anything stupid, indeed."  
Shepard quickly interjected, the humoured smile on his face suggesting the whole thing was a joke.

Everyone couldn't help but chuckle lightly at Shepard's joke, all except Javik who was still as stoic as ever. At this point, Shepard stood forward to the glass box that held the armour inside, could this heavy armour really be as strong as the doctor was suggesting? "So this is basically a miniaturised Atlas, without the weapons."

"Simply put, but not incorrect." The doctor replied. "It might even be stronger, but enough about that. You mentioned weapons, if you were to activate the systems devastator mode, it would be like turning a kitten into a lion."

Shepard was no longer nervous about the armour now, from what the doctor had told him, he would be reasonably safe, but he had more pressing matters to attend. "While your new armour does sound safe, I'm afraid I must decline." Shepard said, he watched as the doctors hopeful face dropped to a confused and annoyed look. "I'm a biotic you see, using a soldiers armour wouldn't exactly be right. I'm trained to use biotic power, whereas soldiers are just trained in weapons and combat." Though, he still didn't have the heart to tell anyone that his biotic power still wasn't working well.

"Ah, but you see the beauty in the armour lies in its weight." The doctor quickly said, hoping to change Shepard's mind. "It is very light to wear, and is able to handle a biotics power."

"I'm sorry, Doctor." Shepard said. "The answer is still no."

"Okay, I understand." The doctor said in defeat. "Maybe later on down the line you will have a change of heart, I'm still determined for you to test it out."

"We'll see how that goes, Doc." Shepard replied. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, yes, I'm ready." The doctor replied, taking out a memory device from her terminal. "Lead the way."


End file.
